Pearls of Wisdom....347

1. O All-Knowing, You opened my heart to the way
    of supplication. Yearning for Your love is glorious
    and grand; lust for other love is disgraceful and
    corrupt. Your divine court is the infinite plane.
    I leave behind the throne of honor, for the real
    throne of honor is Your way.

2. Because of your humility God granted you
    the gift of insight. Go toward the peach tree,
    which has sprung to life. It has become lush
   green by the command "Be!" Beneath its
   shade all your needs will be fulfilled. Such
   is divine alchemy that the crooked become
   straight. As God revealed, "Its roots are firm
   in the earth, its branches in the sky."

3. God calls Himself "Seeing" so that His ever-
    watching eye may scare you away from sinning.
    Whether the breeze be cold or hot, the Cognizant
    is aware, not absent, O infirm man.

4. Flee to the shelter of God's grace. He showers
    our souls with His grace. When He provides
    shelter, how can you lack shelter?  Fear not;
    water and fire will become your army. Did the
    sea not help Noah and Moses?  Did it not seek
    vengeance upon their foes?  Was not the fire a
    fortress for Abraham?  Did it not raise the smoke
    of despair in the heart of Nimrod?

5. When Ahmad passed beyond the Lote tree at
    boundary of Paradise, the Angel's frontier, he
    said, "O Gabriel, come fly with me." But Gabriel
    replied, "I cannot escort you. My wings beyond
    that point will be consumed. But the station of
    the pure before the Most Pure is nothing short
    of wonderment."  [Mawlana Rumi]