Contemplation

Today, Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha, one of the two most important festivals in the Muslim calendar. The holiday, also known as the Feast of the Sacrifice, symbolizes Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son as a sign of devotion to God/Allah. Much as I am awed by Abraham’s faith, my attention always strays to Isaac, bound and placed upon the firewood by the one person he trusted and loved. I wonder why he even let his aged father bind him up when he could have easily bolted beyond his reach. But he obeyed his father and probably with his heart in his mouth believed that a miracle would happen that would rescue him and it did.

Application

How often do you feel bound, helpless and hopeless?  Yet unlike Isaac we think that whatever is tying us down is an act of the enemy not from our father. I think we give the enemy too much power and too much energy. Come to think of it, if you are being held by the enemy why would he ever want to let you go?

Yet the truth is our father sometimes lets us experience what we might consider challenges for our own good.   Instead of focusing on what is going wrong; we should focus on Him, renew our faith in Him and stay keen to see the miracle coming at us out of nowhere.

Our aim should be to keep our thoughts positive in all circumstances which will lead to positive actions and consequently positive reaction thus breaking the cycle. Just as Abraham’s faith never wavered, we should also think  life-affirming thoughts.  Just a single positive thought can help  us cope more easily with the daily affairs of life, see the opportunities all around us, and give us the courage to take action when the moments of truth arise.

Happy Eid to you all.