One of my favorite quotes is from Henry Miler. He opens The Tropic of Cancer with the sentence,"Once you give up the ghost everything follows with dead certainty, even in the midst of chaos." I have always loved this quote. It gives me hope.
It is sort of in the same vein as a verse from one of my favorite songs by The Verve, "Tie yourself to the mast, my friend, and the storm will end". Again, it gives me hope.
One of the things I love about Islam is that to be Muslim means you have submitted your will to Allah. In this, one can find peace. Long before I knew about Islam, books and songs with this message that giving up the idea of who you should be, giving up the fight and struggle to accomplish what you feel you should, is ultimately what will bring you peace and happiness.
Giving up the ghost, submitting your will, is not easy. I am working on it everyday. I think the first step is to recognize what the blessing and gifts in your life are. That said, instead of being irritated that I have to do laundry and my husband has to lock himself away and study, I will be thankful that I have clothes to wash, money to pay for it and that I have a washer and dryer around the corner. I will be even more thankful that my husband has the opportunity to go to a state university and is doing very well in his program. I am thankful too that he is more than half way done.
1 comments:
Well, although I can't agree about the choice of gods, I understand about the concept of submitting to God and you're right... there's nothing harder than dying to self. And the funny thing is... I'm so unrighteous in every way that you'd think it would be easy! :)"Hooch is crazy!" as my kids and I say.
Post a Comment