Harry Randall, once he had leaped the hurdle and become a Bahá’í was a very…
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When in Bahá'í history
Harry Randall, once he had leaped the hurdle and become a Bahá’í was a very enthusiastic one. When Harlan told him about 'guidance' - what a mystery it was, and how earnestly Harlan himself was trying to understand and live under it Harry, too, began to try to apply it. One afternoon he started out to take a walk and, in an effort to understand this guidance that Harlan talked about, Harry paused at each cross street and corner praying that he might be urged in whatever direction it might be that God wished him to take. He walked and walked, the city streets gave way to country roads and still he walked. At some corners he was moved to turn; at some he went straight ahead. But he felt no urge to stop he felt strongly that he should keep going. Finally, at the end of the afternoon, he came to a small white house surrounded by a picket fence - and here, with his hand on the gate, he knew this was the house he had been led to; this was the end of his walk. So he opened the gate, went up the short path and knocked at the door. A woman opened the door and, giving him one look, called back over her shoulder, 'John, John he's come!' It seems that the night before, this woman had had a dream in which she had gone to open her door to one who knocked - a man who had come into her house and told her something that was so exciting and wonderful that when she woke up - though she couldn't remember what the exciting and wonderful thing had been - she was still so excited she'd told her husband about it. And then Harry had knocked - Harry had come into her house and Harry had told her about Bahá’u’lláh and given her the wonderful Message for the New Day.
Source: Reginald Grant Barrow, Mother's Stories: Stories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Early Believers told by Muriel Ives Barrow Newhall to her son, p. 24
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: intuition).
Discuss this story
For adults
- Where do you see prayer appearing — visibly or quietly — in this passage?
- How does this story complicate or deepen your understanding of intuition?
- Where do prayer and patience meet in this story?
For teens
- How could the spirit of prayer show up in your week?
- What does this story say about how to face hard moments?
Reflection
- How does prayer show up in your life right now — and where is it being asked of you?
- Is there someone in your life who would be helped by hearing this story?
- Sit quietly for a moment after reading. What does this story stir in you?
Comprehension quiz
Which source is "Harry Randall, once he had leaped the hurdle and become a Bahá’í was a very…" 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/intuition
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