Fear Love and Faith

Warning: you might cry when watching this link but make sure you do watch it prior to reading this post.

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

It’s unbelievable that our own fear can cause us to hurt those that we love the most. In this case Woody was too afraid to let go of his relationship with Oden(his dog) that he caused Oden to live in pain. The beautiful part about this was that regardless of the situation Oden was able to continue giving love regardless of the pain he was in. It was only when Woody was able to come to terms with his own fear and act out of unconditional love for Oden that he was able to let Oden move on.

Fear can easily take control of a situation when we don’t base our actions on love and faith. It’s difficult not basing our actions off fear because we our putting ourselves out there.

I know that at time’s in my life I was so afraid of being alone that I’d hang out with everyone and anyone regardless of their goals or morals. In the end I was the one who ended up suffering the consequences. Although I had my array of friends I had created a spiritual void –all from fear. Yet when I was alone I felt content- I felt inner peace because I didn’t need anyone with me. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once said “… Allah is sufficient a friend…”

Just to clarify, I’m not saying that you should go live as a hermit. What I am saying is that if a moment that makes you uncomfortable presents itself, accept it. Live it out, put your self in a situation that you’ve never been before. I’m convinced this is the only way to live one’s life, unless you’d like to stay in a box all your life.

I'll leave you with this quote by Rumi:
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Peaks and Troughs

We all have our peaks and our troughs... funny, it makes me think about antibiotic administration. When antibiotics are given, generally its every X hours in order to make sure that the therapeutic amount is continuously in a person's blood stream. If you have too much, it becomes toxic for your body and if you have to little, the infection remains unharmed.



This same sort of peak and troughs are evident in our own lives. We have our ups and then we have our downs. Similarly, nature goes through the seasons... winter comes and the leaves fall... as spring comes there is rebirth and growth is observed. However we often fail to realize that even in winter there is growth, it just isn't shown as it is during spring and summer.

I've learned quite a bit over this extended "trough". However, the funny thing about it all is that it comes back to the basics. Believing in your self and being able to realize that you are all that you need.

Interestingly enough, the impetus for this re-realization is the impetus for growth in my life over the past seven years- my father. Ironic how someone "dead" lives on. I find it so beautiful that those who are no longer with us in this world are in one way or another still with us.

I had a nice heart to heart with my aunt today talking about anything and everything. Some how or another the subject of God and spirituality came up. She talked about her deceased uncle who had a peculiar way about praying. She explained that whenever he'd go to pray he'd not stop at the customary vudu instead he'd go on to shower, wear his best clothes, and make sure he was looking spiffy prior to praying. She remembers him telling her "When you go to see your boss you make sure that your appearance is without blemish... why don't we do the same when we speak with our Lord?". Here's some food for thought: How do you dress when your pray? Is it in your pj's? How do you speak to God when you pray? Is it rushed? Does your voice have love and sincerity in it? Think about it.


There are people who worship Allah to gain His Favors; this is the worship of traders. There are some who worship Him to keep them-selves free from His Wrath; this is the worship of slaves. And a few obey Him out of their sense of gratitude and obligations; this is the worship of free and noble men.

-Imam Ali