Sheep for the Shepherds

One day Bahá’u’lláh sent ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to inspect the work of the shepherds, who were taking care of His sheep. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was a small child at the time, and the persecutions against Bahá’u’lláh and His family had not yet started. Bahá’u’lláh then had a good deal of land in the mountains and owned large herds of sheep. When the inspection was finished and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was ready to leave, the man who had accompanied Him said, “It is your father’s custom to leave a gift for each shepherd.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá became silent for a while, because He did not have anything to give them. The man, however, insisted that the shepherds were expecting something. Then ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had an idea that made Him very happy! He would give the shepherds the sheep they were taking care of! Bahá’u’lláh was very much pleased when He heard about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s generous thoughts towards the shepherds. He humorously remarked that everyone had better take good care of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá because someday He would give Himself away. Of course, this is exactly what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did for the rest of His life. He gave everything He had, each and every moment of His life, to humanity, to unite us and bring us true happiness.

Source: Ruhi Institute, Book 3 (Teaching Children’s Classes, Grade 1), pp. 28–29. The incident is also told in Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Annamarie Honnold), p. 69.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: generosity).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/generosity