During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s last days in America, the Bahá’ís were eager to show…
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
Studio narration for this story is coming — it’ll be generated by the cloud-TTS pipeline (voice: auto-selected from the source author).
When in Bahá'í history
During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s last days in America, the Bahá’ís were eager to show their love and gratitude by contributions of money, but these He refused. ‘I am pleased with your services,’ He told them, ‘and I am grateful for all you have done for Me . Now you have brought presents for the members of My family. They are acceptable, but the best of all presents is the love of God which remains preserved in the treasuries of hearts. Material presents remain for a time but this lasts forever. These presents require chests and shelves for safe keeping while this is preserved in the repositories of the minds and hearts and remains eternal and immortal forever in the divine worlds. I shall, therefore, convey to them your love which is the most precious of all gifts. No one uses diamond rings in our homes and no one wants rubies. That house is free from all these things. ‘I, however, accept your presents but I leave them in your safe keeping with the request that you will kindly sell them and send the proceeds to the funds for the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar.’
Source: Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: gifts).
Discuss this story
For adults
- If you were to share this story aloud at a devotional gathering, which sentence would you read first?
- What in your own life does this story bring to mind?
- Where do gratitude and kindness meet in this story?
For teens
- If you were in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's place, what might you have done?
- What does this story teach about gratitude?
Reflection
- Read the passage a second time, slowly. What did you notice that you missed the first time?
- What in this account feels timely? What feels timeless?
- If you could bring one quality from this story into your next conversation, what would it be?
Comprehension quiz
Which source is "During ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s last days in America, the Bahá’ís were eager to show…" drawn from?
What period of Bahá'í history does this story belong to?
Which historical figure is featured most prominently in this story?
Which virtue does this story most clearly illustrate?
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/gifts
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