The First Shall Be Last
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When in Bahá'í history
New York (today: New York, USA)
‘Abdu’l-Bahá inspired the creation of a Local Spiritual Assembly in New York City. Loulie Mathews, one of those present when the friends met to form their first local institution, recalled that they had very little idea of how to proceed. Anxious to impress each other they first sat stiffly along the wall. No, a circle would be better—so they moved. Suddenly the doorbell rang. Grace Krug returned with a cablegram—from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá! It stated simply: “Read Matthew, Chapter 19, Verse 30.” They needed a Bible. Finally both Bible and page were found. The message read, ‘But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.’
‘Presto, we became as humble as mice—afraid lest that last place should be ours! ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave us a wonderful lesson that evening! If we went away without too much knowledge of how to form an Assembly, we learned a lesson in how to become Bahá’ís. Bathed in the aura of humility the Assembly came into being.’
Source: Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Annamarie Honnold), p. 19.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: humility).
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