Growing Wisdoms.

 Growing up I was taught by my respected elders and superiors that if I wanted or needed anything in life, all I needed to do was have patience ask God (Exalted be He) and He will give. It wasn’t until I was in my 10 - 12 years of age when I actually understand what that meant. 

Up until then, I had wrongly created my own interpretation which had no resemblance to the meaning I was taught as a child. I made myself believe it to mean that you had to put on a brave face and that any sign of hardship was a sign of ungratefulness. Don’t tell anyone how frustrated, angry and upset you truly are because the last thing you want is for your secret to come out…

This carried on for around 2years  until one day I woke up and decided “This can’t be right,” and I made a conscious decision of find out for myself what patience really meant.  I began to reflect on why it is that God (the Majestic) creates each individual in a particular and unique image.

Every Person is Unique 

In the past few years my false façade of contentment has become real contentment. This doesn’t mean that I’ve somehow come to the end of my journey to God or that my faith is somehow ‘perfect’, because there is simply no such thing. Of course I still face days that are harder than others. However, the truth of the matter actually lies in the very realisation that the journey is ongoing. 

I spent so much time thinking that if I prayed hard enough I would wake up and miraculously see my father again, thinking that this is what I needed in order to carry myself in this temporary world with complete certainty, gratitude and comfort in my own skin. I could not have been more wrong. 

With time and after a lot of sleepless, tearful nights I realised that there is no such thing as coincidence, and that this is where my patience  thankfulness, certainty  in God plan for me, and comfort come from. 

The people we encounter, the conversations we have and the sights that we see – good and bad – all happen for a reason and are blessings, just as any opportunity to reflect and turn to The Most High is a blessing.

To me, the crucial step is to look inwards and ask myself whether my outlook on life is that of a victim, or of someone who was created by God (Exalted is He) in the way that He intended and is the Benefactor of, through His countless blessings.

Michael V. Reynold.