A Sampling

Designing the booklet and cover for ‘Fire and Gold’ has been such a thrilling experience.  I wanted both of them to be works of art in themselves in order to complement the beauty of the music.  The booklet has 16 pages and includes the lyrics for each piece.  Prefacing each set of lyrics is a short personal description briefly sharing something of what that particular song means to me.  Here is a sample of one of the pages of the booklet:

On one page of the CD jacket we have also placed a short passage that reflects upon the meaning of tests and difficulties in light of the many statements of Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha on this theme.  It is hoped that these reflections will assist friends in challenging times (great for sharing with others in need when visiting them in their homes, in hospitals and other places).  The following excerpt from this passage is the thought of the day: 

“This world and all its glitter will fade, leaving only our good deeds and what we have made of our souls.  And in the process of the development of our spiritual selves, hardship and struggles are not only inevitable but also indispensable.  For virtues cannot be acquired in a vacuum; no one has ever learned patience surrounded only by comfort, and forgiveness can only be exercised when we are wronged.  Like the athlete who accepts that pain and effort are inherent in the process of striving for excellence, we are called to see beyond the horizon of the present and to envision the “end in the beginning”.  When we contemplate our growth in this light then we recognize that the tests of life are gifts from God sent for our own perfecting.”