I have always been grateful to Baba for His method of teaching me. Each lesson tends to be mystical and, as my friend Laurent noted, dramatic. Typically the end results leave me with many special feelings: exciting lessons learned, new ways of seeing, and good stories to share. This is until my most recent lesson. This time, I just hung my head in shame.
The Lesson by Alison (Govi) Hutter 11/2/2011
During the last few months of this summer, several people belonging to a group called the Young People Group (YPG) decided on a meeting date at Myrtle Beach in October. This group was established by Don Stevens and over the past few years had been meeting on a regular basis. In these meetings, Don shared personal knowledge and intuitions he had gained after many years of direct and holy guidance with Avatar Meher Baba. This would be an important gathering for the YPG: it would be our first meeting together after Don’s death. Group members were curious as to whether the years of gathering under Don’s guidance were sufficient to build a foundation strong enough for the YPG to remain established without his physical presence. I definitely wanted to be there. I am a nurse in a small hospital in Winslow, Arizona. Unfortunately, I struggle in my relationship with the Nursing Director. Recent unpleasant episodes with her led me to find it incredibly unappealing to ask for these specific days off to meet with my group. As weeks passed it became a painful realization that I probably would not be able to attend. So I started to pray to Baba—real hard. I have consistently been assigned to work on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesdays—with little or no variation to that schedule—for many months now. One and a half weeks before the meeting at Myrtle Beach I phoned the hospital for my two-week schedule. It had been changed and as a result I would have off eight days in a row with the YPG meeting smack-dab in the middle of those days. I immediately got onto the Web to look for flights. I decided that Oct. 6 to Oct. 11 would be perfect. I would work my regular three 12-hour shifts, have Oct. 5 to recover, and leave on Oct. 6 to Meher Baba’s Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach. Yes. That would be perfect. But, despite several hours of trying every angle possible, the only option was to accept a flight that left on the 5th. (Have I mentioned that what I really wanted was to leave on the 6th so I could rest a day?) I combined two credit card accounts that gave me exactly the amount of frequent flyer points required to purchase this ticket. Then, I called the Center for lodging. I was told there was none available since it was a very busy week at the Center. They were booked solid. But, within two days, I was notified that I would