Hollow Reed

In the morning, after His obligatory prayer and supplications, the Master invited us into His presence and served us tea with His own hand. He spoke of the blessings and confirmations of the Ancient Beauty, the Greatest Name:

“This help and assistance are from Him and these confirmations are through His bounty and favor; otherwise, we are nothing but weak servants. We are as reeds and all these melodies are from Him. We are ants and this dignity of Solomon is from Him. We are servants and this heavenly dominion is from Him. We must, therefore, offer our constant gratitude to Him for His favors and must join heart and soul to praise Him for His blessings."'

Attributed to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mahmud's Diary, The Diary of Mirza Mahmud-i-Zarqani Chronicling ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Journey to America, pp.153-54