Encouragement

I'm not so good at organizing my thoughts into words.  I often have so many things I want to blog about, but when I sit down to type it out the words just don't come together like I am thinking them.

I realized after looking at some old blog entries of mine that this blog does actually serve at least one purpose; it give me glimpses of days gone by.  And I remember those moments and smile because I'm happy to have lived them (and lived through them!).  And in a way, those old blog posts are little encouragements for me to keep on. 

As humans, we are weak.  Allah, our creator, reminds us of this in the Quran, but He follows it up with a way to get out of being in a state of loss.  It's by having patience and by doing good deeds.  Doing good deeds might not be so hard because it is an outward act, but having patience is harder because it involves one's will and inner self.

I realized that I crave more enouragement and look for it from others.  I need to hear over and over what a blessing the children are, how our efforts with them are for a purpose, and most of all how other Muslim moms and dads find comfort in practicing Islam in our day to day.  Sadly, it's not a commonly voiced sentiment in our circles.  We praise God every other word, practically, by saying such praises such as "Masha'Allah", "SubhanAllah", and "Alhamdulilaah", and I do believe those are sincere.  What is lacking to me is that spark of joy that glints in the eye and that tone in the voice that sounds like a song.  I shouldn't compare my life to what is shown on TV or what the Duggar family represents on their show or blog... those are all edited, tweaked, and prepared ahead of time.  But it is so nice to read from their blog (or watch a show) and see that joy and positive attitude from the family.  That is encouraging to me, and that's what lead me to this blog post today.  I can try to be that positive influence to others, and in the meantime I pray that someone can be that for me.