Alhamdulilah
Aliaa said something funny at the dinner table the other night. The conversation had turned to bellybuttons for some reason, but that‘s not the funny part. After a slight pause my daughter said with a look of relief “Alhamdulilah (thank God) that doctors know how to cut cords. Or else I’d STILL be attached to you.” She’s 9 years old. Now THAT sure is something to be thankful for.
I just attended a 4 day seminar given by one Fadel Soliman of Bridges Foundation. The topic of the seminar was about presenting Islam to non-muslims. For example, he discussed what some common misconceptions are, how to clearly explain our beliefs, all the while giving us tips for public speaking and general good manners. I found it beneficial and interesting and one unexpected result is that I have been thinking a lot about gratitude these last few days. Mr Soliman made a good point on the first night of the seminar. He asked us what if he offered each of us a check for $5,000 at the end of the lecture, wouldn’t we at least tell him “thank you” when he gave it to us? Wouldn’t some of us hug him or carry him up on our shoulders? Why then, do we not feel everyday the same enthusiastic gratitude to the Creator, the one who gave us our eyes, our kidneys, our ever-beating hearts. How much is our sense of vision worth to us? Surely, more than $5,000. What about our feet? Our legs? What about our good health in general? What about the fact that plants grow from the soil and produce food for us, and we are all not just a race of humans wandering around on a scorching hot sandy planet with only minimal, tasteless food available to us? (Fadel didn’t use all those examples, I’m just elaborating.) But aren’t these things priceless? Yet most of us humans neglect to thank our Creator enough.
So often we fall into negativity, focusing on how empty the glass is. The glass can be almost full but if it’s not overflowing, well, that just isn’t good enough for some of us sometimes. I’ve been looking around at my life and realizing just how blessed I am. Look at those books on the bookshelf- amazing… someone figured out how to make paper once and we’ve been recording our thoughts for posterity ever since. Now… we can even do it without paper. We can turn on the internet, create a blog and share our thoughts or just type in a few words and pull up information on ANYTHING and anyone we could want to know about. We have eyes and vision and that in itself is a huge miracle. Many of us can read in more than one language. We can sense depth with our eyes and decipher codes and images and our eye‘s lenses adjust to low light or bright sunshine. We can look at each other and feel joy and comfort in the face of loved ones. We can communicate just through vision.
Thank God for my eyes.
Thank God for hot water.
Thank God for modern dentistry.
Thank God for those little wheels they put on the bottom of office chairs.
Thank God for navel oranges, mangoes, mushrooms, pineapple and all the other things that make eating an enjoyable experience.
Thank God for ball point pens. Carrying a quill and ink bottle around in my purse would get REALLY messy.
Thank God for disposable tissues. Again- messy in my purse issue.
Thank God for my children who inspire me to see the world in new ways- or back in old ways. Non adult ways.
Thank God there are people who are willing to work as taxi drivers, and garbage collectors and plumbers and farmers and miners.
Thank God for the telephone, and the mobile phone, and LCD monitors and the people who think these things up and bring them into reality. I am still fascinated by the cassette tape and black and white photography.
And Thank God for bagels with cream cheese and lox- which I am greatly anticipating eating every week of the summer when I’m back in the US. Something about the warmth of the toasted bagel (sesame seed, please) the cool creaminess of the cheese and the saltiness of the smoked salmon… Throw some capers and raw onion slices on… I hope they have those in Paradise. Well. Now I’ve made you all hungry. I’ll stop.
I just attended a 4 day seminar given by one Fadel Soliman of Bridges Foundation. The topic of the seminar was about presenting Islam to non-muslims. For example, he discussed what some common misconceptions are, how to clearly explain our beliefs, all the while giving us tips for public speaking and general good manners. I found it beneficial and interesting and one unexpected result is that I have been thinking a lot about gratitude these last few days. Mr Soliman made a good point on the first night of the seminar. He asked us what if he offered each of us a check for $5,000 at the end of the lecture, wouldn’t we at least tell him “thank you” when he gave it to us? Wouldn’t some of us hug him or carry him up on our shoulders? Why then, do we not feel everyday the same enthusiastic gratitude to the Creator, the one who gave us our eyes, our kidneys, our ever-beating hearts. How much is our sense of vision worth to us? Surely, more than $5,000. What about our feet? Our legs? What about our good health in general? What about the fact that plants grow from the soil and produce food for us, and we are all not just a race of humans wandering around on a scorching hot sandy planet with only minimal, tasteless food available to us? (Fadel didn’t use all those examples, I’m just elaborating.) But aren’t these things priceless? Yet most of us humans neglect to thank our Creator enough.
So often we fall into negativity, focusing on how empty the glass is. The glass can be almost full but if it’s not overflowing, well, that just isn’t good enough for some of us sometimes. I’ve been looking around at my life and realizing just how blessed I am. Look at those books on the bookshelf- amazing… someone figured out how to make paper once and we’ve been recording our thoughts for posterity ever since. Now… we can even do it without paper. We can turn on the internet, create a blog and share our thoughts or just type in a few words and pull up information on ANYTHING and anyone we could want to know about. We have eyes and vision and that in itself is a huge miracle. Many of us can read in more than one language. We can sense depth with our eyes and decipher codes and images and our eye‘s lenses adjust to low light or bright sunshine. We can look at each other and feel joy and comfort in the face of loved ones. We can communicate just through vision.
Thank God for my eyes.
Thank God for hot water.
Thank God for modern dentistry.
Thank God for those little wheels they put on the bottom of office chairs.
Thank God for navel oranges, mangoes, mushrooms, pineapple and all the other things that make eating an enjoyable experience.
Thank God for ball point pens. Carrying a quill and ink bottle around in my purse would get REALLY messy.
Thank God for disposable tissues. Again- messy in my purse issue.
Thank God for my children who inspire me to see the world in new ways- or back in old ways. Non adult ways.
Thank God there are people who are willing to work as taxi drivers, and garbage collectors and plumbers and farmers and miners.
Thank God for the telephone, and the mobile phone, and LCD monitors and the people who think these things up and bring them into reality. I am still fascinated by the cassette tape and black and white photography.
And Thank God for bagels with cream cheese and lox- which I am greatly anticipating eating every week of the summer when I’m back in the US. Something about the warmth of the toasted bagel (sesame seed, please) the cool creaminess of the cheese and the saltiness of the smoked salmon… Throw some capers and raw onion slices on… I hope they have those in Paradise. Well. Now I’ve made you all hungry. I’ll stop.
posted by Just Ruthie at 8:01 AM
1 Comments:
We are psychically connected, woman, for real. Or at least Aliaa and Yasin are. Did he buy her a ring yet? ;-) (we're muslims y'all- we arrange marriages hahaha)
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