Allah'u'abha, quick question: I seem to remember a quote from the Guardian wherein he describes how by doing our best to follow the laws and teachings, we will in fact attract others to the Cause... and how the believer who strives to follow the teachings, no matter how difficult, ends up benefiting while the one who compromises with the teachings is in loss....something along those lines...
Could someone please provide me with a reference and the actual quote? Thanks in advance!
Request for quote from Guardian
a few possibly relevant quotations
"In considering the effect of obedience to the laws on individual lives, one must remember that the purpose of this life is to prepare the soul for the next. Here one must learn to control and direct one's animal impulses, not to be a slave to them. Life in this world is a succession of tests and achievements, of falling short and of making new spiritual advances. Sometimes the course may seem very hard, but one can witness, again and again, that the soul who steadfastly obeys the law of Baha'u'llah, however hard it may seem, grows spiritually, while the one who compromises with the law for the sake of his own apparent happiness is seen to have been following a chimera: he does not attain the happiness he sought, he retards his spiritual advance and often brings new problems upon himself."
(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, excerpts from a letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies, February 6, 1973, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1209)
"As you are aware, the Guardian feels that the Bahá'ís must, in view of the condition of the world today, stand forth firmly and courageously as followers of Bahá'u'lláh, obeying His Laws, and seeking to build his World Order. Through compromise we will never be able to establish our Faith or win others' hearts to it. This involves often great personal sacrifice, but we know that, when we do the right thing, God gives us the strength to carry it out, and we attract His blessings. We learn at such times that our calamity is indeed a blessing." (On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 5 May 1957 at http://bahai-library.org/writings/shogh ... /1957.html )
"As regards their personal attitudes the Guardian, remembering what a devoted worker ... has been in the past, is very sorry to see she is no longer active. He does not feel this will lead to either her happiness or that of ...; for, whenever we compromise with what is noblest and best in ourselves, we are the losers invariably." (Messages to Canada, p. 23 at http://bahai-library.org/writings/shogh ... ll.html#23 )[/quote]
(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, excerpts from a letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies, February 6, 1973, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1209)
"As you are aware, the Guardian feels that the Bahá'ís must, in view of the condition of the world today, stand forth firmly and courageously as followers of Bahá'u'lláh, obeying His Laws, and seeking to build his World Order. Through compromise we will never be able to establish our Faith or win others' hearts to it. This involves often great personal sacrifice, but we know that, when we do the right thing, God gives us the strength to carry it out, and we attract His blessings. We learn at such times that our calamity is indeed a blessing." (On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 5 May 1957 at http://bahai-library.org/writings/shogh ... /1957.html )
"As regards their personal attitudes the Guardian, remembering what a devoted worker ... has been in the past, is very sorry to see she is no longer active. He does not feel this will lead to either her happiness or that of ...; for, whenever we compromise with what is noblest and best in ourselves, we are the losers invariably." (Messages to Canada, p. 23 at http://bahai-library.org/writings/shogh ... ll.html#23 )[/quote]