Awaiting My Turn

I am still waiting.  Each year goes by, and for some reason or other, I am forced to wait another year.  I pray for my turn to make the journey, my turn face the challenge, my turn to fulfill one of the duties of passage in life, my turn to walk and pray and worship on the sacred grounds of the pilgrimage.  I wait for my turn to go on Hajj. While I wait, I strive to fulfill the dut...

Wisdom as Wide as the Texas Sky

  "Everything's bigger in Texas."  That's what they say.  And when one gazes at the seemingly endless blue sky on a sunny spring day or when one hears the slow, deep rumbling of thunder in the distance and see the massive grey almost black clouds approaching just before a lightening-filled storm, it sure seems true enough.  And the churches, well some of them...

A Search for Christ's Essence

  As a child, December 25th came and went like every other day we were out of school.  It was nothing to us.  We didn't believe it was the day of Christ's birth much less a Holy Day because according to the verses in the Bible Jesus was born during the harvest season (not winter) and nothing in the Bible declared this day one that was to be kept as holy.  Furtherm...

A Simple Farewell

  Each day is about beginnings and endings.  With the soft light of the morning sun filtering through the curtains, we start our day.  Going about this and that here and there, we spend the light of the day until the setting of the sun.  If we take a moment through it all, we might inwardly appreciate the precious nature of a child or the delicacy of a colorful, fragrant ...

Aspiration for Truth

  How wonderful it is to observe the innocence of children.  Taking every word spoken as the truth, these little ones with bright eyes and immense hope are so full of trust.  Just as beautiful are the adults, their guiding examples, which honor that innocence and try to preserve it with the careful use of their tongues.  All too often, that innocence is not preserved.  Li...

Even Playing

It had been snowing for over a week already and only once did everything turn white for a little while. It was so lovely to see the flakes fall, sometimes in large fluffy clusters and other times as frozen beads, but we all longed to go out and play in it. And then, the fluff-filled wisps of wind started again. This time it was constant and cold enough to cover the cars, roof tops, and ground wi...

Miracles for the Information Age

  The era of information is racing ahead constantly striving to push back the boundaries of knowledge and forge the limits of the unknown.  With the coming of this day, those eager to learn have pursued understanding with a passion bringing great benefits.  Open-heart surgery, flight by planes, and exploration in spaceships are now commonplace.  The fantastic way that these th...

We Can Stop It

  I don't know what compelled me to look out the window at a neighboring apartment building this morning.  Maybe I just wanted to peer out at my flowers on the balcony highlighted in the sun.  But instead of having the pleasure of gazing at their colors, movement in the garden of that neighboring building caught my eye. At first I thought the people who own the property had com...

Lived, Had, Hoped For

  I open my eyes, and I can see.  Without conscious intention, I blink moistening the delicate windows through which the world around me is made apparent.  For me this has always been possible.  But I have a friend afflicted with multiple sclerosis who suffers just to raise her stiffened, bent hand to rub her dry, aching eyes.  She is bound to a hospital bed in her home u...

We are not all Equal

  True.  We are all created by the Giver of Life as descendents of Adam and Eve and born into this world with pure souls having free will.  But in accordance with the All-Knowing's infinite wisdom, that is the extent of our equality.  Each and every one of us faces different surroundings and circumstances from the moment we are born.  Even children in the same family ...

Don't Get Branded

The media lassos whirl around the airwaves and falls around the unsuspecting necks of consumers thousands of times a day. Drawn in by the powerful pull of corporations who spend extensive amounts of time and money on how to make the tightening of the rope around our necks seem to be a symbol of acceptance by beautiful, wealthy people. Forced to the ground by peer pressure to join the crowd, our h...

A Wig of Oppression

For years she had taught math with joy and enthusiasm.  Student after student looked forward to her class, and she looked forward to them.  This happy arrangement of daily sharing knowledge and encouraging its pursuit was one she hoped to look forward to for many years to come.  But that was not the case. One day all that changed when this Muslim teacher was told she could no longe...