—and you are the fruit; they are but the outward form while you are the meaning, they are the shell and you are the pearl, they are the curdled buttermilk and you are the pure butterfat.

• The proclamation of Our having chosen you is written in a clear hand, yet your ability to read it is feeble.

• Whenever you set out to seek Me, look for Me within yourself; seek Me from yourself and you will find Me near. Do not search for Me anywhere else, for I am closer to you than it is.

• Had you known the worth of your soul in Our sight, you would not have demeaned it by sin. We drove Iblis away because he refused to prostrate to you while you were still in your father’s loins—how astonishing, then, that you have made peace with him and abandoned Us!

• If love were truly in your heart, its mark would show upon your body:
When I claimed love she answered, “You lie—do I not see your limbs still well-fleshed?” (1)

• If the heart were nourished by love, the swelling of desire would vanish:
Had you been a chastely ardent lover, you would not be pot-bellied, and passion would have made you forget excessive eating. (2)

• Were your love sound, you would feel estranged from anyone who fails to remind you of the Beloved.

• How wondrous that someone professes love yet needs another to remind him of his Beloved—he remembers Him only when prompted!

The very least that love does is to keep you from ever forgetting the Beloved: