# Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bahá'u'lláh, Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones
> 
> A Selection of Writings from
> Bahá’u’lláh,
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> and Shoghi Effendi
> 
> prepared by the International Teaching Centre
> for the Continental Counsellors and their Auxiliaries,
> May 2018
> Copyright © Bahá'í International Community
> 
> eBook version 1.0
> 2018
> We cherish the hope that through the loving-kindness of the All-Wise, the
> All-Knowing, obscuring dust may be dispelled and the power of perception
> enhanced, that the people may discover the purpose for which they have
> been called into being. In this Day whatsoever serveth to reduce blindness
> and to increase vision is worthy of consideration. This vision acteth as the
> agent and guide for true knowledge. Indeed in the estimation of men of
> wisdom keenness of understanding is due to keenness of vision.
> (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Wilmette:
> Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988, 2005 printing), p. 35)   [1]
> 
> ***
> 
> Whatsoever driveth thee away from the one true God and shutteth thee
> out from the Best- Beloved is blameworthy and reprehensible, whilst
> everything that draweth thee nigh unto Him is acceptable and praiseworthy.
> One must consider matters with the eye of discernment, shun whatsoever
> may be the cause of remoteness from God, and awaken to all that is the
> source of nearness and illumination.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)       [2]
> 
> Each soul must consider where the good-pleasure of God resideth and
> what conduct, manners, and words will draw him nigh unto his Lord. He
> should then strive with heart and soul, and endeavour to act accordingly.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)       [3]
> When the light of faith is kindled in the lamp of the heart and soul, its
> spreading rays illumine every limb of the body. When this resplendent light
> shineth forth through the medium of the tongue, it is made manifest in the
> powers of speech and utterance. When its beams fall upon the eyes, insight
> and true vision are revealed, and when it stirreth the ear, it bestoweth
> attentive hearing. When this light sheddeth its radiance upon the mind, it
> leadeth to the recognition of the All-Merciful, and when it setteth aglow the
> limbs, it findeth expression in purity and the worship of God. Otherwise, all
> physical powers, all limbs and members would remain useless and futile
> and their actions would fade like a mirage in the desert.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)       [4]
> 
> First and foremost, one should use every possible means to purge one’s
> heart and motives, otherwise, engaging in any form of enterprise would be
> futile. It is also essential to abstain from hypocrisy and blind imitation,
> inasmuch as their foul odour is soon detected by every man of understanding
> and wisdom. Moreover, the friends must observe the specific times for the
> remembrance of God, meditation, devotion and prayer, as it is highly
> unlikely, nay impossible, for any enterprise to prosper and develop when
> deprived of divine bestowals and confirmation. One can hardly imagine
> what a great influence genuine love, truthfulness and purity of motives exert
> on the souls of men. But these traits cannot be acquired by any believer
> unless he makes a daily effort to gain them...
> (From a letter dated 19 December 1923 to the Bahá’ís of the East—
> translated from the Persian, in Living the Life: Excerpts from the
> Writings of Shoghi Effendi, Third Edition (New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing
> Trust, p. 2) [5]
> The need is very great, everywhere in the world, in and outside the Faith,
> for a true spiritual awareness to pervade and motivate people’s lives. No
> amount of administrative procedure or adherence to rules can take the place
> of this soul-characteristic, this spirituality which is the essence of Man.
> (From a letter dated 25 April 1945 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to
> an individual believer, in Living the Life, pp. 26–27)  [6]
> 
> …we must reach a spiritual plane where God comes first and great human
> passions are unable to turn us away from Him. All the time we see people
> who either through the force of hate or the passionate attachment they have
> to another person, sacrifice principle or bar themselves from the Path of
> God….
> We must love God, and in this state, a general love for all men becomes
> possible. We cannot love each human being for himself, but our feeling
> towards humanity should be motivated by our love for the Father Who
> created all men.
> (From a letter dated 4 October 1950 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi
> to an individual believer, in Living the Life, pp. 41–42) [7]
> 
> ***
> 
> Servitude to God lieth in servitude to the friends. One must be the
> essence of humility and the embodiment of meekness. One must become
> evanescence itself and be healed of every disease of the self, in order to
> become worthy of thraldom to the Threshold of the Almighty.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)          [8]
> 
> Rest not, even for an instant, and seek not comfort, even for a moment;
> rather labour with heart and soul that thou mayest render devoted service to
> but one amongst the friends and bring happiness and joy to but one
> luminous heart. This is true bounty, and by it the brow of ‘Abdu’l- Bahá is
> illumined. Be thou my partner and associate therein.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)          [9]
> 
> To live to teach in the present day is like being martyred in those early
> days. It is the spirit that moves us that counts, not the act through which that
> spirit expresses itself; and that spirit is to serve the Cause of God with our
> heart and soul.
> (From a letter dated 3 August 1932 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi
> to an individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 9) [10]
> 
> The advice that Shoghi Effendi gave you regarding the division of your
> time between serving the Cause and attending to your other duties was also
> given to many other friends both by Bahá’u’lláh and the Master. It is a
> compromise between the two verses of the “Aqdas”, one making it
> incumbent upon every Bahá’í to serve the promotion of the Faith and the
> other that every soul should be occupied in some form of occupation that
> will benefit society. In one of His Tablets Bahá’u’lláh says that the highest
> form of detachment in this day is to be occupied with some profession and
> be self-supporting. A good Bahá’í, therefore, is the one who so arranges his
> life as to devote time both to his material needs and also to the service of the
> Cause.
> (From a letter dated 26 February 1933 written on behalf of Shoghi
> Effendi to an individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 10) [11]
> 
> There is nothing that brings success in the Faith like service. Service is the
> magnet which draws the divine confirmations. Thus, when a person is
> active, they are blessed by the Holy Spirit. When they are inactive, the Holy
> Spirit cannot find a repository in their being, and thus they are deprived of
> its healing and quickening rays.
> (From a letter dated 12 July 1952 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to
> an individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 44) [12]
> 
> ***
> 
> In this day, to serve the Cause of God is to engender love and
> fellowship amongst His friends. Let us associate with one another with the
> utmost selflessness and evanescence, with radiance of spirit, with
> meekness, humility, and faithfulness. Let us strive to spread the divine
> fragrances, for the receptiveness of the people in these days is exceedingly
> great. Should there be a lapse, it would be due to our failings, the cause of
> which is a lack of unity and concord.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)           [13]
> 
> In this day, any deed, however infinitesimal, when not performed for the
> sake of God, is manifest loss; and any word, when not uttered for the sake
> of God, can cause a conflagration.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)           [14]
> The purpose of the appearance of the holy Manifestations hath ever been
> the establishment of fellowship and love in the world of humanity. The
> friends should therefore lay down their lives in this arena that they may
> exhilarate the people of the world with the wine of love for one another and
> may gladden the hearts of the whole human race. The more they strive for
> harmony, the greater their progress; the more they exert effort to achieve
> unity, the more they will witness the tokens of divine assistance.… Root out
> the sources of dissension and raise up the foundations of harmony. Cling
> tenaciously to the hem of the love of God and cleanse your hearts of any
> trace of estrangement or conflict. Thus may the light of divine bestowal
> shine resplendent, and ye become the recipients of the effulgent glory of the
> Sun of Truth. Let each one of you become the servant of the other; let each
> sacrifice himself for the sake of the other.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)           [15]
> 
> If we Bahá’ís cannot attain to cordial unity among ourselves, then we fail
> to realize the main purpose for which the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and the Beloved
> Master lived and suffered.
> In order to achieve this cordial unity one of the first essentials insisted on
> by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is that we resist the natural tendency to let
> our attention dwell on the faults and failings of others rather than on our
> own. Each of us is responsible for one life only, and that is our own. Each
> of us is immeasurably far from being “perfect as our heavenly father is
> perfect” and the task of perfecting our own life and character is one that
> requires all our attention, our will-power and energy. If we allow our
> attention and energy to be taken up in efforts to keep others right and
> remedy their faults, we are wasting precious time. We are like ploughmen
> each of whom has his team to manage and his plough to direct, and in order
> to keep his furrow straight he must keep his eye on his goal and concentrate
> on his own task. If he looks to this side and that to see how Tom and Harry
> are getting on and to criticize their ploughing, then his own furrow will
> assuredly become crooked.
> On no subject are the Bahá’í teachings more emphatic than on the
> necessity to abstain from faultfinding and backbiting while being ever eager
> to discover and root out our own faults and overcome our own failings.
> If we profess loyalty to Bahá’u’lláh, to our Beloved Master and our dear
> Guardian, then we must show our love by obedience to these explicit
> teachings. Deeds not words are what they demand, and no amount of fervour
> in the use of expressions of loyalty and adulation will compensate for failure
> to live in the spirit of the teachings.
> (From a letter dated 12 May 1925 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to
> an individual believer, in Living the Life, pp. 5–7) [16]
> 
> Indeed the believers have not yet fully learned to draw on each other’s love
> for strength and consolation in time of need. The Cause of God is endowed
> with tremendous powers, and the reason the believers do not gain more from
> it is because they have not learned to fully draw on these mighty forces of
> love and strength and harmony generated by the Faith.
> (From a letter dated 8 May 1942 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to
> an individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 19) [17]
> 
> These, indeed, are the days when heroism is needed on the part of the
> believers. Self- sacrifice, courage, indomitable hope and confidence are the
> characteristics they should show forth, because these very attributes cannot
> but fix the attention of the public and lead them to enquire what, in a world
> so hopelessly chaotic and bewildered, leads these people to be so assured, so
> confident, so full of devotion? Increasingly, as time goes by, the
> characteristics of the Bahá’ís will be that which captures the attention of
> their fellow-citizens. They must show their aloofness from the hatreds and
> recriminations which are tearing at the heart of humanity, and demonstrate
> by deed and word their profound belief in the future peaceful unification of
> the entire human race.
> (From a letter dated 26 October 1941 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi
> to an individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 17) [18]
> 
> Regarding the matter of ... and the inharmony that seems to exist among
> certain of the friends ... when Bahá’ís permit the dark forces of the world to
> enter into their own relationships within the Faith they gravely jeopardize
> its progress;... All should be ready and willing to set aside every personal
> sense of grievance—justified or unjustified—for the good of the Cause,
> because the people will never embrace it until they see in its community life
> mirrored what is so conspicuously lacking in the world: love and unity.
> (From a letter dated 13 May 1945 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to
> the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand, in Living
> the Life, p. 27)   [19]
> ***
> 
> O ye that are enamoured of the divine Beauty! O ye that are enraptured
> by the true Beloved! In this day when the fierce gales of tests and trials
> have encompassed the world, and fear and trembling have agitated the
> planet, ye must appear above the horizon of unwavering constancy with
> shining faces and radiant brows in such wise that the gloom of terror and
> confusion may be entirely obliterated and the light of certitude may shine
> resplendent in the luminous skies.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)         [20]
> 
> O ye friends of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá! The tumult of the nations and the clamour
> of their peoples are certain and inevitable in the Day of the Manifestation of
> the Most Great Name. The wisdom of this irrevocable decree is clear and
> evident. For when the winds of tests blow, the frail trees are uprooted while
> the blessed trees are made firm and immovable. Torrents of rain distress
> and scatter the creeping things that walk upon the earth while the gardens
> are filled with anemones and bring forth roses and sweet herbs, and the
> nightingales warble their melodies, chanting a myriad songs at every
> moment. This is a bounty unto the righteous and a calamity unto those who
> are weak. Render thanks unto God that your feet are firm and your faces,
> like pure gold, are aglow in the fire of tests. I beseech the one true God that
> day by day ye may increase in firmness and steadfastness.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)         [21]
> 
> I supplicate God that day by day thou mayest become more steadfast, so
> that like unto an impregnable stronghold thou mayest withstand the surging
> of the ocean of tests and trials. The people of the world are like unto trees.
> Those that are rootless are toppled by the slightest breeze, while those that
> grow deep roots and become strong and firm are not shaken by violent
> winds, and in time bring forth leaves and blossoms and fruit.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)         [22]
> The consummate wisdom of God, however, is manifold and not every
> soul is apprised of its mysteries. Indeed, His all-encompassing mercy and
> His all-embracing wisdom entail certain exigencies that transcend the ken
> of human mind. Sorrow not, then, if trials, tribulations and adversities wax
> ever more severe, for the grace and bestowals of God are likewise
> unceasing. How often doth man flee from one thing, fixing all his hopes
> upon another, yet in the end it becometh apparent that the object of desire is
> harmful and deleterious, whereas the thing despised is the source of
> advantage and benefit!
> Tread, therefore, the path of acquiescence and resignation. Let no
> hardship sadden thy heart, nor set thy hope upon any worldly gifts. Be
> happy and content with whatsoever God hath willed, that thy heart and soul
> may find tranquillity and thine inner being and conscience may experience
> true joy. Erelong shall this hardship and tribulation pass away and inner
> peace and joy be attained.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)        [23]
> 
> O thou whose eyes are fixed upon the Abhá Kingdom! In this grievous
> day, when dire adversities have shaken the pillars of the earth, and the tests
> and trials sent by God have rocked the foundations of the world, remain
> thou firm and staunch in His Cause through the power of the Kingdom and
> the confirmations from on high. Be thou as steadfast as an immovable
> mountain, an impregnable stronghold, a solid bulwark, and an impenetrable
> barrier. Be not perturbed by the winds of tribulations or dismayed by
> grievous calamities. The splendours of divine assistance are shed abroad
> from the Kingdom of God, and the hosts of heavenly confirmation are
> continually descending from the throne of the Most High. Rest thou
> assured and be thou confident.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)         [24]
> 
> We should not, however, forget that an essential characteristic of this
> world is hardship and tribulation and that it is by overcoming them that we
> achieve our moral and spiritual development. As the Master says, sorrow is
> like furrows, the deeper they go the more plentiful are the fruits we obtain.
> (From a letter dated 5 November 1931 written on behalf of Shoghi
> Effendi to an individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 7) [25]
> 
> You have complained of the unsatisfactory conditions prevailing in the
> ... Bahá’í Community; the Guardian is well aware of the situation of the
> Cause there, but is confident that whatever the nature of the obstacles that
> confront the Faith they will be eventually overcome. You should, under no
> circumstances, feel discouraged, and allow such difficulties, even though
> they may have resulted from the misconduct, or the lack of capacity and
> vision of certain members of the Community, to make you waver in your
> faith and basic loyalty to the Cause. Surely, the believers, no matter how
> qualified they may be, whether as teachers or administrators, and however
> high their intellectual and spiritual merits, should never be looked upon as a
> standard whereby to evaluate and measure the divine authority and mission
> of the Faith. It is to the Teachings themselves, and to the lives of the
> Founders of the Cause that the believers should look for their guidance and
> inspiration, and only by keeping strictly to such [a] true attitude can they
> hope to establish their loyalty to Bahá’u’lláh upon an enduring and
> unassailable basis. You should take heart, therefore, and with unrelaxing
> vigilance and unremitting effort endeavour to play your full share in the
> gradual unfoldment of this Divine World Order.
> (From a letter dated 23 August 1939 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi
> to an individual believer, in Living the Life, pp. 15–16) [26]
> 
> Perhaps the greatest test Bahá’ís are ever subjected to is from each other;
> but for the sake of the Master they should be ever ready to overlook each
> other’s mistakes, apologize for harsh words they have uttered, forgive and
> forget. He strongly recommends to you this course of action.
> (From a letter dated 18 December 1945 written on behalf of Shoghi
> Effendi to an individual believer, in Living the Life, pp. 28–29) [27]
> 
> Human frailties and peculiarities can be a great test. But the only way, or
> perhaps I should say the first and best way, to remedy such situations, is to
> oneself do what is right. One soul can be the cause of the spiritual
> illumination of a continent.
> (From a letter dated 30 September 1949 written on behalf of Shoghi
> Effendi to an individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 39) [28]
> 
> Often these trials and tests which all Bahá’í communities inevitably pass
> through seem terrible, at the moment, but in retrospect we understand that
> they were due to the frailty of human nature, to misunderstandings, and to
> the growing pains which every Bahá’í community must experience.
> (From a letter dated 25 November 1956 written on his behalf to an
> individual believer, in Living the Life, p. 49) [29]
> 
> ***
> If thou desirest eternal life, inhale the heavenly fragrance; and if thou
> seekest life everlasting, abide beneath the shelter of the Word of God.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)          [30]
> 
> In this day, true power and strength reside in the Supreme Elixir, which
> transformeth darkened realities into illumined souls and changeth the
> quintessence of ignorance into a sign of the All- Merciful. The Supreme
> Elixir is none other than the Word of God, which hath shed divine
> illumination upon the contingent world and wafted the fragrances of
> holiness throughout the earth.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)          [31]
> 
> The Word of God may be likened to the life-giving breezes of the divine
> springtime. When chanted in spiritual tones, it bestoweth the breath of life
> and granteth true salvation. It bringeth forth a garden of roses from the pure
> soil, and wafteth its musk-laden fragrance throughout the world.
> (From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—translated from the Persian)          [32]
> 
> If you read the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with
> selflessness and care and concentrate upon them, you will discover truths
> unknown to you before and will obtain an insight into the problems that
> have baffled the great thinkers of the world.
> (In the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, appended to a letter dated 30
> January 1925 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
> believer, in Living the Life, p. 4) [33]
>
> — *Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones (Used by permission of the curator)*