So, in my Intro to Islam class, we just started getting into studying their belief system more and looking into their holy texts. The reading for tomorrow is from the Hadith, which I guess is sort of similar to Proverbs in the Bible? Of course, The Qur'an is the primary holy book of Islam and the literal Word of Allah, but the Hadith is a collection of sayings and stories from/about the Prophet or early Muslim leaders that is also widely recited and used in sermons, law, etc.
Anyway, there were two hadith in particular that really spoke to me and one also kind of relates to what I wanted to share anyway.
None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.
Everyone starts his day and is a vendor of his soul, either freeing it or bringing about its ruin.
The second one especially made me think further into the verse from Ecclesiastes I was going to post about today: "In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good."
-Ecclesiastes 11:6
Initially, I was reflecting on how we don't know which things we do will be fruitful and which won't but what God asks is that we are faithful in everything in don't cease in doing his work regardless of the fruit/prosperity we see. I know personally I take so many detours or just meander in my doubt of whether God will work and sometimes I have to confess that I outright disobey because I don't see fruit in what I'm doing and lose focus. Ultimately, I guess even though my head knows it, my heart's not fully convinced that God is always working and may use the things I do in awesome ways if 1. I'm faithful; 2. I pay attention to what God is doing around me!
The second hadith above made me reflect on this more because it brought to light that we're not just following God aimlessly day-to-day waiting for him to reveal to us the grand plan. Every day we are vendors of our soul and we can either free it--give our everything to God and let him guide us--or bring about it's ruin through our carelessness.
In that vein, I know I am extremely careless and rarely a good steward of what God's given me. But I hope that I really can use the extra time this summer to be more intentional in how I use my time especially to work through some hard truths with God and to invest in people around me. Way easier said than done but hold me accountable please!! :)
There's not too much to update on here. I went home this last weekend and it was a really awesome chance to catch up with family. I mostly just ate and talked non-stop with some nice sleep tucked in there! Saturday I spent most of the afternoon at my cousin's house jumping on the trampoline with my little cousins and then eating dinner with my cousin and her husband, my mom and the kids. It's such a treat to go home and to be enveloped in the community there. In some ways I regret not being home, though I enjoy Ann Arbor and know God will use (and is using?) me here too.
Also, quick prayer request: If he follows through, my Dad is coming to visit me in Ann Arbor in about a week. For those of you who don't know, we have a really distant relationship and really have only recently started talking more. This is going to be the first time seeing him in about 10 years...and possibly meeting my youngest half-sister too. To say the least, I'm really nervous and in general not even sure how I feel about it since I think I've really conditioned myself to not having a father figure and it's difficult for me to see he would actually fit into my life...so, if you could just pray for strength and wisdom for this that would be really good. And pray too that I will be able to turn to God more because mostly I just sort of freak out independently about it and forget to really turn it over in prayer.
Love you guys and hope you're all doing well!! <3
Lizz
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