A Passage For July
/Greetings from your YA Blog Team! This week marks the beginning of our summer programs for YAs and we couldn't be happier to greet the YAs joining us this month at our retreat house in Northern California.
However, we also find ourselves a wee bit busy, and our to-do lists a wee bit full...
We'll be back next week with more tips, stories, and inspiration from our fellow YA passage meditators, but we didn't want to leave you empty handed this week!
Today we want to share a passage with you, copied out below, "If you want to draw near to God" by Abu Sa'id. We memorized this one back in December at a Bay Area YA Satsang Day (scroll down to see pictures here), and have found it really resonating with us these days.
Even if you can't join us physically this month, we'd love to hear from you and we invite you to contribute to making this month special. Here are two ways you can join in:
- Share in the comments below your favorite passage, or a passage that's really jumping out at you these days (you can find many passages online here).
- If you've got this passage memorized, put it in the rotation for the month of July! If you haven't got it memorized - we say go for it!
All the best from your Northern California YA Blog Team!
If You Want to Draw Near to God - Abu Sa'id
If you wish to draw near to God,
Seek him in the hearts of those around you.
Speak well of all, present or absent.
If you would be a light for others,
Be like the sun: show the same face to all.
To bring joy to a single heart is better
Than building countless shrines for worship;
To capture one heart through kindness is better
Than setting a thousand free.
This is the true lover of God,
Who lives with others,
Rises and eats and sleeps like others,
Gives and takes in the bazaar,
Yet never forgets God even for a moment.