When Work Becomes Prayer

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The new year marked the start of a new journey in 2026—my first week on the Brilliant Star team as the Teachers’ Curriculum Specialist. Within days, I found myself in the company of both longtime and new friends—first at the Eastern Colorado Baháʼí Winter School in Estes Park, Colorado, and soon after at Georgia’s Baháʼí Winter School.
 

A record turnout at the Eastern Colorado Baháʼí Winter School in Estes Park.

A joyful renewal of in-person activity at Georgia’s Baháʼí Winter School.

Feelings of gratitude, imbued with purpose and meaning, filled me as I listened to children, junior youth, youth, and adults share their deep-felt love for Brilliant Star magazine—a publication of the National Spiritual Assembly for over 50 years. Friends expressed how Brilliant Star nurtures joy and happiness, inspires creativity and curiosity through the arts and sciences, and fosters an identity rooted in world citizenship. 

In this new role, I am excited to visit and to connect with communities that are socializing concepts of peace, unity, justice, and love into action within community life. Inspired by the Baháʼí writings, which exalt “work performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship” and regard “the acquisition of sciences and the perfection of arts” as acts of worship, I bring passion and purpose to this service. I’m drawing upon my lived experience as a mother of four young adults and the wife of a devoted and supportive husband, as well as my skills and knowledge as a photographer; multimedia artist; writer; Ruhi Institute tutor, junior youth group animator, and children’s class teacher; and Transformative Leadership Educator. 

On my very first day in this role, my son and I brainstormed a fun way to use an extra copy of Brilliant Star. We decided it would be a wonderful addition to our neighborhood's free library. I’d love to learn about all the creative ways kids, families, and communities are enjoying and sharing Brilliant Star.

 

While walking the dog, Jadan Kerr shares Brilliant Star in the free library!

Over the next year, I’ll carry out several responsibilities with my Brilliant Star coworkers in service to each of the protagonists—the individual, the community, and institutions. At the heart of this work will be identifying the needs of Ruhi children’s class teachers, junior youth group animators, and families. We’ll do this by: 

• Participating in or observing community gatherings, children’s classes, junior youth groups, and seasonal schools to identify needs and share learnings.
   
• Developing tools, guides, and workshops, both in person and online, for accompaniment, learning, and skill development. We’ll explore how to creatively apply Brilliant Star content—including crafts, puzzles, activities, stories, videos, educational games, and apps—to current grassroots community-building efforts. 
   
• Enhancing the Brilliant Star website in new and creative ways that complement the growing “feeling of belonging” and “sense of common endeavor and mutual support” felt by all ages engaged in community-building efforts. 

The Brilliant Star team’s goal is to learn how to better support and empower individuals, communities, and institutions in coherent alignment with the Ruhi Institute’s community-building processes. Overall, we’ll accompany community members, especially children’s class teachers, in accessing creative, spiritually grounded resources that nurture children’s capacities, foster joy and service, and help build vibrant communities. 

Growing up as an only child in a Baháʼí family strengthened my independence, creativity, and love for people. I was raised with the vision that all human beings are one family. As a child and adolescent, I surrounded myself with diverse friends, which is where I found deep connection with peers and learned the meaning of true friendship.

Laurie and me in 1999, enjoying life as young adults.

One of the most significant and influential friendships that shaped my adolescent development began in middle school, when I met Laurie in seventh-grade French class. Laurie’s support, commitment to learning, and service to others positively influenced my own development throughout my teenage years and into adulthood. Thirty-five years after we met, she married my husband’s brother, becoming not just my lifelong friend but also Aunty Laurie to our children. A few years later, they welcomed their daughter Anya, who is now the age at which Laurie and I met. Laurie was diagnosed with brain cancer in April 2024 and died on February 5, 2025. 

Zentangle art inspired by love and healing for Laurie during radiation treatment.

Since then, I have been navigating life with a renewed commitment to translating thoughts and actions filled with love through learning, the arts, prayer, and service. Experiencing the loss of Laurie was one of the most painful and challenging experiences of my life, and it forced me to re-examine my thinking, which in turn shaped my actions and relationships. This journey has helped me recognize that grief, while profoundly painful, can catalyze personal growth, self-awareness, and resilience. It deepened my capacity for empathy, connection, and appreciation for the relationships I hold dear. It has empowered me to move through grief with grace and gratitude. 

Serving in this new role as Brilliant Star’s Teachers’ Curriculum Specialist honors Laurie’s passion for the spiritual and moral education of children and her love of service to humanity. She served as a community children’s class teacher in Fort Collins, Colorado, and later in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for over 10 years. She loved how Brilliant Star empowered the love of learning and service in children, families, and communities from diverse cultures, while cultivating universal values rooted in the collective spiritual heritage that unites us as a global family.  

Inspired by Laurie’s favorite quote from ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, I will strive that my “actions day by day may be beautiful prayers” and will “turn towards God, and seek always to do that which is right and noble.”

As I begin a new learning journey shaped by love, loss, and ever-evolving transformation, it is my love of beauty and thirst for knowledge that give me direction, meaning, and purpose. Supporting children, families, and communities in fostering joyful, meaningful, and spiritual skills and qualities generates feelings of joy and deep gratitude. The year ahead is a dynamic year of learning through service and meeting teachers, children, families, and community members across the nation. 

Here’s how you can participate in this process with the Brilliant Star team:

• Contact us if you have a seasonal school or major event coming up—we may be able to join you.
• Let us know how Brilliant Star can support your teaching and community-building efforts.
• Share stories and photos about using Brilliant Star in your classes, families, and communities.

We warmly welcome the opportunity to talk and meet with you! You can email me at jkerr@usbnc.org. 

Updated on 1.22.26