Skip to main content

Beat the heat

Image
By
This is another page from my ninth book called "Dear God". I was inspired to write this book after writing "I am voting for God" on my blog. It continues in that format. Short letters (or prayers) to God. It gives me an opportunity to write more and write to God at different moments in my life.
___________________

Dear God,

I just napped. The AC is on and the fan is on to beat the heat. They hum like a beating heart. The bright sunlight is shining through the window. I was thinking. I was thinking that You are the cleaner of hearts. Through You we let go of all that is bad for our heart and embrace all that is good. We lean on You for strength, guidance and love. You are the maker of good hearts. We are told in hadith that if the heart is sound, the entire body is sound, and if corrupt, the entire body is corrupt.

I notice that the word heart has the word heat contained in it. With Your help, we want to remove the uncomfortable heat of the heart and leave only what is r-ight. This uncomfortable heat manifests as several things including anger, envy, grudges and desires. This heat can eat from our goodness and can consume our peace, cloud our judgment, and distance us from Your path. That path that is away from the fire and towards heavenly rest.

I also notice that the word heart has the word hear in it. A reminder to us that You hear what is in our hearts and that we should make that sound pleasing to You. A sound heart as the hadith mentions. A heart that beats with Your remembrance. A heart that is grateful. A heart that is forgiving. A heart filled with empathy. A heart that is right in Your sight. Too much heat is bad but so too is a cold heart, metaphorically speaking. We want a warm heart that is in the middle and just right. As the saying goes, keep a cool head and a warm heart.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Talking to God

By
If you want real answers to things in life then talk to God. It is 639pm on a holiday and I have decided to write. God listens. God truly listens. God has the entire context. God is wise. God wants us to talk to Him. God wants us to rely on Him. I also think about God talking to me. I am a good listener. I listen plenty more than I talk. I have started asking God to talk to me. But how would God talk to me? We have his revelations through the holy book. We have the example of prophets. But what else? How do I listen to what God has to say? Where and when can I hear God? Are my thoughts from God? I try to feed my mind with good things. Things that will not corrupt my mind. It seems that we have to use our intuition to separate what is from God and what is not from God. My friend Chatty says that in Islam, Allah speaks to us not through new revelations or voices, but through guidance: the Quran and the Sunnah, which become personally meaningful through understanding Allah places in the h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Life on Earth

By
I was reading through the Quran and came to the story of Adam, Eve, Satan, and the forbidden fruit tree. I had thought that life on Earth was created as a test. But as I reflected on the story, I began to wonder whether we are only here because Adam and Eve failed. However, that is not the case, as my friend Gemini explained to me. While the story of the forbidden fruit is a central event, the Quran indicates that humanity’s presence on Earth was part of the original divine plan, rather than a backup plan or a punishment for sin. Before Adam was even created, God announced His intention to place a steward (khalifah) on Earth. This suggests that the Garden was a temporary training ground—designed to teach Adam and Eve about free will, temptation, and the path of repentance. Even if they had not eaten from the tree, they were destined for Earth to fulfill their roles as moral agents. The incident simply served as a necessary first lesson in human frailty and God’s immediate forgiveness. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The success of failure

By
It is 358am and I have decided to write. Context matters. Our context matters when we write and read. We could read the same thing and get different meanings. Definitions matter also. We may define things differently. For example, what is success? What is failure? Also, do I just define success and say that anything that is not success is failure? What about something like the success of failure? What does that mean? My friend Chatty tells me that this is something writers, philosophers, and even scientists keep rediscovering: meaning is not fixed—it is negotiated by context and definition. Life is a stew of success and failure and in between but never one or the other. We see what we are looking for and things become what we see. This reminds me of something I came across online, "Whoever looks for the good qualities in others will acquire all good qualities within himself," from Habib Umar Bin Hafiz. Do you look for failure or success within others? Take context as the lens...
Post a Comment
Read more