The world ebbs and flows through a cyclical process of crisis and victory. It is a process that can be seemingly chaotic and void of fundamental meaning, but in truth it is fluid as its motion is determined by a Hand that we are all contingent upon. We possess this knowledge and yet we struggle to find peace and meaning when life ceases to go as we believe it is meant to…and so we pray. Perhaps we pray for patience or understanding, or perhaps for a slight piece of Divine Intuition so that we might have access to unlocking the disconcerting mystery that our lives have most recently evolved into. Our prayers are always answered…the key is being open to perceiving of these answers whether they are what we were hoping for or not. The Beloved is always speaking to us, the meaning of our lives beats within us, but depending on how devoutly we are listening, this Voice can at times appear to be a whisper or even silence. Listen closely and openly and you will hear, you will hear not only your prayers being answered but the meaning of life being readily divulged because you have finally allowed yourself access to what has been granted to you all along.
Verily He answereth him who prayeth unto Him, and is near unto him who calleth on Him. And We ask Him to make this dark calamity a buckler for the body of His saints, and to protect them thereby from sharp swords and piercing blades. Through affliction hath His light shone and His praise been bright unceasingly: this hath been His method through past ages and bygone times.
(Abdu’l-Baha, A Traveller’s Narrative, p. 80)
