Monday, May 23, 2005
Hope in the Midst of the Struggle
I was starting in on my whiny melodrama again today..."woe is us"...when my husband started quoting from Qu'ran with an impish gleam in his Pharoanic eye. I looked at him with that "I dare you to translate it, but I might not want to hear it" squint and said, "what's that?" He then proceeded to put my pitiful attitude in its place through the translation of the word of God. I will give you the Yusef Ali translation of what he said to me. It hurt.
Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But, Allah knoweth, and ye know not. Al-Baqarah 216
I hear that we grow stronger through our struggles. But, hearing it isn't enough. We really have to know that at the end of the period, we will be better people, able to withstand the negative forces that life throws at us. Of course, at the time that this verse was given to prophet Mohamed (pbuh), it meant literally fighting in battle (defending the faith), but today, it means more than that. Apart from the physical aspect of the word "struggle" comes the spiritual part of it. We have to "grin and bear it" sometimes to get through it, but as hard as it is, we still must push ourselves. We wouldn't stand in the middle of the battlefield and say, "This is too hard. I can't take it anymore. Give me your best shot," would we? Perhaps that is just what I do whenever I put out the tea cups and have my little pity party. I am telling Satan "you win". But, God, with Karim's beautiful voice, put this all into perspective for me today. I need to appreciate this tough time we are going through because it might just be the medicine we need. God knows best. So, instead of hating myself for this life we are living at the moment, I should trust that God will take care of us through it. Instead of wanting a life of leisure, which must be why I whimper like a chihuahua in the rain when I look at our poor state, and which is more than likely bad for us, I should take a look at what we do have. What we HAVE is love and hope, and more than anything else, GOD! This week, I am going to try to look at life through this pair of glasses. I know that if I can master the "glass is half full" concept THIS week, then I can do it again next week and the week after. So, friends, in the cheesiest words I can muster...Cover me, I'm goin' in...
Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But, Allah knoweth, and ye know not. Al-Baqarah 216
I hear that we grow stronger through our struggles. But, hearing it isn't enough. We really have to know that at the end of the period, we will be better people, able to withstand the negative forces that life throws at us. Of course, at the time that this verse was given to prophet Mohamed (pbuh), it meant literally fighting in battle (defending the faith), but today, it means more than that. Apart from the physical aspect of the word "struggle" comes the spiritual part of it. We have to "grin and bear it" sometimes to get through it, but as hard as it is, we still must push ourselves. We wouldn't stand in the middle of the battlefield and say, "This is too hard. I can't take it anymore. Give me your best shot," would we? Perhaps that is just what I do whenever I put out the tea cups and have my little pity party. I am telling Satan "you win". But, God, with Karim's beautiful voice, put this all into perspective for me today. I need to appreciate this tough time we are going through because it might just be the medicine we need. God knows best. So, instead of hating myself for this life we are living at the moment, I should trust that God will take care of us through it. Instead of wanting a life of leisure, which must be why I whimper like a chihuahua in the rain when I look at our poor state, and which is more than likely bad for us, I should take a look at what we do have. What we HAVE is love and hope, and more than anything else, GOD! This week, I am going to try to look at life through this pair of glasses. I know that if I can master the "glass is half full" concept THIS week, then I can do it again next week and the week after. So, friends, in the cheesiest words I can muster...Cover me, I'm goin' in...
