It is 257pm and I have decided to write. It is a peaceful Saturday afternoon. The sun is h.o.t. Everywhere is dry and hot. I just ate a pack of honey roasted peanuts. What to write? The new year is almost here. It is a nice feeling to know that we made it to the end of another year. We survived. I feel like I should be doing more than just surviving. Discipline and consistency are my struggles. I think many people share this struggle. I went searching for "islamic quote of the day" and stumbled on this quote without source, "Your struggles are not in vain; they are the seeds of your growth." Success may not come in this life but there is the next life. Here is another one, "Reflection is the soil where the seeds of faith are nurtured." What do I see when I look back at the past year? Hope. I see hope. Why do I see hope? There are several pockets of my life that have improved.
My friend asks me what would make the coming year meaningful? I think meaning makes sense when we can separate what is important and what is not important in our lives. We spend time on things that do not matter and will not matter. One hundred years from now all of us will be gone. Many of us will only be remembered by a handful of people. Life will go on. A new generation of the living will be deciding the future of the world. In this reflection, a good goal to have is to stop making things more difficult than they need to be. Let go and let God. Be humble. Hum the praises of God. Be grateful. Focus on what is good. Focus on the path of God. The path of good. Often when I cannot figure out what to write about, I end up writing about God. God matters. A life with God matters. God decides our fate. Faith gives us hope and hope keeps us going. Leaving the world better than we found it matters.
I should end with a prayer. Dear God, thank You for bringing me safely to the end of another year, for sustaining me when I felt I was merely surviving, and for revealing pockets of hope along the way. Bless the seeds planted in my struggles, and nourish my faith through honest reflection. Grant me the wisdom to separate what truly matters from what passes away, the discipline to walk with purpose, and the humility to simplify my path. Help me to let go of unnecessary burdens, to center my heart on Your praise, and to leave this world better than I found it. Guide my steps in the coming year upon the path of goodness, grace, and light. Prayer matters. Turning to God matters. Giving our problems and struggles to God matters. My friend says that I should consider that faith gives us direction. Reflection helps us recognise the direction. But our daily choices are where that direction becomes a way of life. I choose to make God the center of my life. When I look back I want to see a life lived for God and with God. I notice the word election in the word reflection. I elect God to lead my life. I choose God to guide my life.
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