Spiritual Food Before Breakfast

This is a story of one of the early Bahá’ís in the West, Lua Getsinger, and an important lesson she learned about prayer. Lua loved God very much, and she often turned to Him in supplication, that she might be enabled to live a life of service. She prayed, too, that her eager and enthusiastic spirit would learn to be patient. Of course, she wanted to learn it quickly, without having to wait too long! Lua knew that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also wanted her to learn patience. One day, when she was visiting Him in the Holy Land, He helped her to see that there are some things for which we must always make time, no matter how hurried we might feel. Rushing off to breakfast without having said her usual morning prayers, Lua met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the hallway. He looked at her, staring deeply into her eyes. And what do you think He said to her? "Lua, you must never eat material food in the morning until you have had spiritual food." So it was that Lua learned she must never fail to draw sustenance from God's heavenly bounties, the source of true strength.

Source: Ruhi Institute, Book 3, Grade 2, lesson 2, pp. 16–17. The anecdote is recorded in Annamarie Honnold, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 151.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: grace-meals).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/grace-meals