Ashes and Rosebuds

"Oh Allah (God), when I lose my hopes and plans, help me remember that Your love for me is greater than my disappointments, and Your plans for me are better than my dreams."

- Ali Ibn Abi Talib (May God accept him) -

"Ashes and Rosebuds"

Inhale. Exhale.

Feel the blood coursing through your veins

Heart beating

Respiration, breathing

In the air that He created 

To maintain you
And sustain you

Yes, He made you

Perfectly imperfect

But sometimes you mistunderstand

You feel like you are worthless

That you should really hurt less

So somehow you must deserve this

A divine corporal punishment

For a misguided moral compass

For lacking beauty or intelligence

Artificial measurements

That humanity's developed

So insecurities start seeping in

They're creeping in

Uninvited, you let them in

Inside your heart, your mind, your body

They infiltrate your very consciousness

But not inside your soul

Your soul houses resilience 

Secured under lock and key

Yet they keep knocking

Countless vulnerabilities

A broken record on repeat

Playing over

And over

And over again

As you wake up to sunlight

A radiant stream

Is illuminating all the beauty outside

But to your inner potential, you remain blind

And confined

Because you can't find the answers you're craving

Despite your efforts to try

Because only the Author knows the next words, the best words, to write

Blank pages aren't comfortable...

But stories aren't products of complacency

It isn't always plain to see

That there is wisdom embedded in everything

The butterfly knows when to leave her cocoon

Flowers recognize the right season to bloom

It's these very processes that we have trouble processing

That flecks of color appear only after it's rained

That fitness and endurance entail experiencing pain

That sometimes we must grieve

And leave behind

The previous page

Not because it lacked significance

But because we have a Test to take...

A life to live...

Contributions to make...

And a journey to fulfill

But we refuse to let go

So we hang on to the thinnest

And the least stable rope

A string unraveling along its edges

Meanwhile the strongest rope is there right next to it

He beckons you to take a hold

To climb past the could-haves and what-ifs

As He shapes and molds

A story that's continually revised

As it aligns

With The Vision realized

Through His Will

And you kick and you scream

And you cry and you rant

Or you remain passive and silent

Convinced of your former plans

But you're an active agent

Your story's protagonist

With the capacity to embrace life's demands

To love and learn

To reap hope and sow passion

To touch others with inspiration

Because you never know when inspiration and exhalation will end

So concerned over detours

That we forget our destination

We fear novel paths

But never knew the one we were traversing

Was not in our best interest

We are exactly where we need to be

But are we who we want to be?

Trust the One Who's superior in His navigation

For God doesn't make mistakes in His creation

But we have to be open to possibilities

That maybe, just possibly

These trials and tribulations

Exist to nourish and feed

That struggles are the remedies we need

To think and feel and grow and achieve

And to become

That maybe, out of these ashes, rosebuds take form.