15. One Day in the Valley
For many years, I wandered like an aimless fool.Then one morning the Sun pierced the valley gloom
And I realized I was on the back of a donkey.
Glancing down I saw there was a loose rein and halter.
A man then appeared, he took the rein and placed it in my hand.
He instructed me, “Follow me as best you can.”
But looking at my willful donkey’s head, I grew nervous.
I cried to the man, “Wouldn’t it be easier for you to hold the rein and lead the donkey yourself?”
He glanced back and smiled, “That is not the way. That was not the way of my Master nor shall it be mine.”
Suddenly he laughed and concluded,
“And who’s to say that one day, your hand shall not come to resemble mine and you start to question; Who is really riding this donkey? Me or him?”
Then he started walking. I followed his retreating back, goading my donkey to keep up, while it’s anguished brays filled the still air of the valley.
.............
New Year Resolutions. The noblest resolution is to control your willful ego, which in the above story is manifested in the donkey. You know, if I have a quicker and easier way to tame our ego, I would share it with you. People often talk about fasting, which is good at disciplining our body's appetite. But complete fasting is not only staying away from food and water from sunrise to sunset. It is also staying away from bad thoughts, controlling what our mouths say, what our eyes see, what our ears hear and what our mind thinks.
Hmm. Even that sounds difficult.
But we are here, already created. Let loose into the valley of life by God. Surely if we are here, God must know something we don't about ourselves. I think we should take it as a challenge to find out exactly what that is.
So that's my new year's resolution for 2012... to better control my rampant ego, and to find out what God sees in us. The question is, will 365 days be enough?
Happy new year, sunshine.
wa min Allah at-taufiq
Hate has no place in Islam
Love will show the Way
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