Skip to main content

God

Image
By
This is a chapter from my third book called Love letters

Loving God for me is when the two o's of Good become one. They are others and ourselves. When we love God, we love others as ourselves. This means that we treat others with kindness, compassion, and respect. It also means that we take care of ourselves and love ourselves as God loves us. We are one in the sight of God. This is the goodness of God. Faith, action and feeling intertwine and influence each other. For example: Faith takes away my doubts; Action strengthens my love for God; And I feel peace and joy in loving God.

My faith was not always this strong and I still have much work to do. When I was younger there was one question that bothered my logical mind. If we had to have a creator then who created God? The work of Blaise Pascal is a good starting point for answering this question. In his unfinished posthumous work Pensées (Thoughts) under the section "The Mystery of God" it is stated, "We know that there is a God, and we know that we do not know him .... God is not to be understood but to be felt." This leads me to examine the definition of faith. Faith is the belief in something that cannot be seen or proven. We believe in God's infinite power and that He always existed. From the Quran, Surah Al-Hadid (verse 3) we are told, "He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent, and He is Knowing of all things."

One of the most profound statements I came across that helped me plenty is that we worship God so that we do not worship things of this world and become slaves to this world. There was a time I would attend Friday prayers and now I listen to the khutbah (or sermon) online. In one khutbah I learnt that tests in life both good and bad are meant to bring out the good in us for which we will be rewarded. In another, I was reminded that Islam is more than a religion, it’s a way of life. The last in person khutbah I attended spoke about kindness and how we treat each other. Again, love for others and love for ourselves.

God knows us better than any human can. He knows what is in our hearts and what are our intentions. I have found it best to leave things out of my control in the hands of God. Prayers work from my experience and this strengthens my belief in God and my love for God. I thank God for giving me life and the ability to put my thoughts and feelings into words. I thank God for giving me a loving heart. I thank God for His mercy and forgiveness. Love of God gives my life meaning.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coffee and a prayer

By
It is 245am and I have decided to write. I have no topic and no idea what to write. I am thankful for another day. I see the beauty that surrounds us. I choose to be happy. We are in the last ten nights of Ramadan. Tonight is the 23rd night. It could possibly be the night of power. I wonder if it will rain. Maybe it rained when I was sleeping. I got up and bathed and drank a strong cup of coffee. Today is also Friday the 13th. I keep thinking. Life is beautiful. Life is simple. No need to complicate things. No need to be extravagant. Believe in God. Trust in God. Be guided by God. Imagine we can pray for anything. We can ask God for anything. God is always listening. God wants to hear from us. Maybe I can turn this blog post into a prayer. My God I pray that everyone gets their prayers answered. I pray that everyone gets what they need. I pray that you light our path towards you. Guide us with what you intend for us. Keep us close to you. Soften our hearts. Keep us balanced, consistent...
Post a Comment
Read more

Belief is a part of life

By
I watched this video and I quite like it as a good starting point for this blog post https://youtu.be/t44PFI_V4LE We cannot know everything. We do not have the capacity to know everything. I make plans for tomorrow because I believe there is a tomorrow not because I know that there is a tomorrow. We cannot decide today to say we will only act on things that we know for sure. This would be impractical. As my friend Chatty puts it, to live life, we must believe in things that cannot always be proven with certainty. For example, we believe that the future exists, that our actions matter, and that other people can be trusted. We also tend to believe life has meaning and that things can improve. These beliefs help us make decisions, keep hope, and move forward. Given that belief is a part of life, it is reasonable to have people believe in a God and a particular religion. My point is this. Life cannot happen without belief because we cannot know everything (unless we are God like). Belief i...
Post a Comment
Read more

God of direction

By
It is 323am and I have decided to write. I am thinking that I am a bucket of paint. A beautiful shade of blue. That God uses to paint the sky. How could I turn this into something worth writing about? My friend Chatty tells me that I could develop the idea by exploring the metaphor of myself as a bucket of blue paint and God as the painter using it to color the sky. The meaning comes from reflecting on what it feels like to be "used"—losing some of myself while helping create something beautiful. The paint may not see the whole picture and might fear being emptied, but its purpose is fulfilled when it becomes part of the sky. The piece can reflect on purpose, trust, surrender, and the idea that giving of yourself is how beauty is created. It is now 423am and I cannot think of a way to continue this writing. The sky is silent is what comes to my mind. How do I ask the sky to speak to me? I look through my window and I see patches of clouds against a dark sky. Maybe the night s...
Post a Comment
Read more