Service to Others

Work as Worship

Source: The Chosen Highway, Lady Blomfield

A workman who had left his bag of tools in the hall was welcomed with smiling kindness by ‘Abdu’l-Baha. With a look of sadness the man said: “I don’t know much about religious things, as I have no time for anything but my work.”

“That is well. Very well. A day’s work done in the spirit of service is in itself an act of worship. Such work is a prayer unto God.”

The man’s face cleared from its shadow of doubt and hesitation, and he went out from the Master’s presence happy and strengthened, as though a weighty burden had been taken away.

Addressing this subject again ‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote:

“Thy letter was received. Praise be to God it imparted the good news of thy health and safety and indicated that thou art ready to enter an agricultural school. This is highly suitable. Strive as much as possible to become proficient in the science of agriculture, for in accordance with the divine teachings the acquisition of sciences and the perfection of arts are considered acts of worship. If a man engageth with all his power in the acquisition of a science or in the perfection of an art, it is as if he has been worshipping God in churches and temples. Thus as thou enterest a school of agriculture and strivest in the acquisition of that science thou art day and night engaged in acts of worship– acts that are accepted at the threshold of the Almighty. What bounty greater than this that science should be considered as an act of worship and art as service to the Kingdom of God.”