O Thou Who Art The Fruit Of My Tree And

Sources: Gleanings From The Writings Of Baha'u'llah

O thou who art the fruit of My Tree and the leaf thereof! On thee be My

glory and My mercy. Let not thine heart grieve over what hath befallen

thee. Wert thou to scan the pages of the Book of Life, thou wouldst, most

certainly, discover that which would dissipate thy sorrows and dissolve

thine anguish.



Know thou, O fruit of My Tree, that the decrees of the Sovereign Ordainer,

as related to fate and predes ination, are of two kinds. Both are to be

obeyed and accepted. The one is irrevocable, the other is, as termed by

men, impending. To the former all must unreservedly submit, inasmuch as it

is fixed and settled. God, however, is able to alter or repeal it. As the

harm that must result from such a change will be greater than if the

decree had remained unaltered, all, therefore, should willingly acquiesce

in what God hath willed and confidently abide by the same.



The decree that is impending, however, is such that prayer and entreaty

can succeed in averting it.



God grant that thou who art the fruit of My Tree, and they that are

associated with thee, may be shielded from its evil consequences.



Say: O God, my God! Thou hast committed into mine hands a trust from Thee,

and hast now according to the good-pleasure of Thy Will called it back to

Thyself. It is not for me, who am a handmaid of Thine, to say, whence is

this to me or wherefore hath it happened, inasmuch as Thou art glorified

in all Thine acts, and art to be obeyed in Thy decree. Thine handmaid, O

my Lord, hath set her hopes on Thy grace and bounty. Grant that she may

obtain that which will draw her nigh unto Thee, and will profit her in

every world of Thine. Thou art the Forgiving, the All-Bountiful. There is

none other God but Thee, the Ordainer, the Ancient of Days.



Vouchsafe Thy blessings, O Lord, my God, unto them that have quaffed the

wine of Thy love before the face of men, and, in spite of Thine enemies,

have acknowledged Thy unity, testified to Thy oneness, and confessed their

belief in that which hath made the limbs of the oppressors among Thy

creatures to quake, and the flesh of the proud ones of the earth to

tremble. I bear witness that Thy Sovereignty can never perish, nor Thy

Will be altered. Ordain for them that have set their faces towards Thee,

and for Thine handmaids that have held fast by Thy Cord, that which

beseemeth the Ocean of Thy bounty and the Heaven of Thy grace.



Thou art He, O God, Who hath proclaimed Himself as the Lord of Wealth, and

characterized all that serve Him as poor and needy. Even as Thou hast

written: "O ye that believe! Ye are but paupers in need of God; but God is

the All-Possessing, the All-Praised." Having acknowledged my poverty, and

recognized Thy wealth, suffer me not to be deprived of the glory of Thy

riches. Thou art, verily, the Supreme Protector, the All-Knowing, the

All-Wise.