The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect
one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it
becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it
grows. The more you put the gold in the fire, the purer it becomes. The more
you sharpen the steel by grinding the better it cuts. Therefore, the more
sorrows one sees the more perfect one becomes. That is why, in all times, the
Prophets of God have had tribulations and difficulties to withstand. The more
often the captain of a ship is in the tempest and difficult sailing the more
greater his knowledge becomes. Therefore I am happy that you have had great
tribulations and difficulties . . . Strange it is that I love you and still I
am happy that you have sorrows.
('Abdu'l-Baha, Star of the West, vol. XIV, no.
2, p. 41, quoted by the Universal House of Justice in a letter written on its
behalf to an individual believer, 23 October, 1994)
