Be a Strong Ship

One day in June 1912, at the house in New York where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was staying, Juliet Thompson watched as a young woman dressed all in black came to Him with her sorrows. As she told her story, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tried to calm her and said, “Don’t grieve now, don’t grieve.” The woman said, “My brother has been in prison for three years. He was imprisoned unjustly. It was not his fault; he was led; he was weak, a victim of others.

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He has four more years to serve. My father and mother are depressed all the time. My brother-in-law, who was our support, has just died.” The Master could see the whole human story. Here was a family which was experiencing every form of misery—they were poor, they were weak, they were sad, disgraced, and without any hope whatsoever.

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‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “You must trust in God.” “But,” the woman cried, “the more I trust, the worse things become!” “You have never trusted,” said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. “But my mother is reading the psalms all the time,” she said. “She does not deserve that God should desert her so! I read the psalms myself, the ninety-first psalm and the twenty-third psalm every night before I go to bed.

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I pray, too.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá looked at her lovingly and said, “To pray is not to read psalms. To pray is to trust in God and to be submissive in all things to Him. Be submissive, then things will change for you. Put your family in God’s hands. Love God’s will. Strong ships are not conquered by the sea; they ride the waves! Now be a strong ship, not a battered one.”

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