There is a situation which we sometimes have in Bahá’í communities where the…
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When in Bahá'í history
There is a situation which we sometimes have in Bahá’í communities where the wife is a Bahá’í and her husband is not, or vice versa. Would any of you be interested in knowing about a technique for overcoming this very sad situation? In Africa, I met a young African, a beautiful soul who was a very active Bahá’í but his wife was not only not a Bahá’í, she was very antagonistic to the Faith. One time he gave an address at a Bahá’í conference. I listened and was surprised to hear him speak very lovingly of his wife. After the meeting I asked him, "George, is your wife a Bahá’í?" "Yes," he said, "she is." I said, "That is wonderful. How did you bring her into the Faith?' He said, "Oh, it was one of those natural kinds of things. She got to the point where she loved to be with the Bahá’ís." He said, "You know, I do a lot of teaching; four or five evenings a week we have meetings, and of course when my wife was so opposed to the Faith, I couldn't have her there, could I? The difficulty was that our house is so small. There is only one room. During those meetings, there was no place for her to go. We have no neighbours. So she would go out to the back and sit or stand under the banana tree.” “Well” he said, “ she became a Bahá’í during the last rainy season!”
Source: John Robarts, http://bahaitalks.blogspot.in/2011/02/value-of-prayer-talk-by-hand-of-cause.html#more
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: becoming-bahai).
Discuss this story
For adults
- Where do you see faith appearing — visibly or quietly — in this passage?
- How does this story complicate or deepen your understanding of becoming bahai?
- Where do faith and love meet in this story?
For teens
- If you were in John Robarts's place, what might you have done?
- What does this story teach about faith?
Reflection
- If you could bring one quality from this story into your next conversation, what would it be?
- What single image from this story will stay with you?
- Where in your own life are you being asked to practice faith?
Comprehension quiz
Which source is "There is a situation which we sometimes have in Bahá’í communities where the…" 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/becoming-bahai
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