#2

I have written in so many private places over the past umpteen years. There are journals and notebooks full of my ramblings. I want it all to amount to something, like an autobiography. Is this blog a way to start acquiring a reading public? I wonder.

The yearning is for connection: connection to God, and through His love, to each other. We are all drops in that ocean, as Rumi says. The Sufis seem to do the best job of trying to express those ideas and even to live them, at least some of the Sufis I've known. Its the way they interpret faith and spirituality.

Everyone suffers some pain and fear in life, no matter what their age or circumstances. Self-hatred, low self esteem, feelings of being inferior to someone else in some way, or even in many ways. God is there to tell us we are not forgotten or forsaken. He says in the Quran, Surat Duha:
By the bright whiteness of noon-tide
and the calm shrouding darkness of night
You are neither forsaken by your Lord nor are you detested
And the ultimate end is better for you than the first beginning.
And yur Lord shall give to you and you shall be satisfied.
Did He not find you an orpahn and provide refuge?
Did He not find you astray and guide you?
And did He not find you without means and provide sustenance?
So as for the orphan-do not oppress him.
And as for the beggar- do not drive him away.
And as for the grace of your Lord - proclaim it!

Allah is (SWT) talking to Prophet Muhammad, but at the same time to us, through the prophet and his life story. As a convert, I connect with this surah on many levels, but also just as a human being who's going through my own shit, every day in my own miserable or joyful way!