The Best Kind of Trap

*A retelling for children, based on **Mahmúd's Diary** (entry of 5 August 1912).*

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One summer day, a woman was getting ready to go and meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá. But she carried a worry in her heart, and when she arrived, she decided to tell Him about it.

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A friend of hers, she said, had tried very hard to talk her out of coming. The friend had warned her to be careful — that she might be walking straight into a *trap,* and that she should keep her distance and protect herself.

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Now, you might think 'Abdu'l-Bahá would feel hurt by such a word. You might think He would frown, or argue, or say the friend was wrong. But He did none of those things.

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Instead, He smiled. And then He did something surprising. He agreed.

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Yes, He told her gently — it *is* a trap. But then He explained what kind of trap it truly was. It was, He said,

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> a trap that frees people from the shackles of prejudice and superstitions.

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What a strange and wonderful idea! Most traps catch you and hold you tight. But this trap was different. This trap set you free. It freed people from thinking only about themselves. It opened their hearts to the love of God, and filled them with the joy of helping others and treating everyone as one big human family.

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The woman's worry melted away. The very thing she had been told to be afraid of turned out to be the thing she had been wishing for all along. Her friend's warning had described it perfectly — only with everything turned the other way around.

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Sometimes a thing that looks scary from the outside is really a door swinging open. The life of faith is not a cage that locks you in. It is a gift that sets your heart free.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["The Trap That Sets You Free"](/stories/md-the-trap-that-sets-you-free).*

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