Winds of Change.....

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Lao Tzu

It is difficult for most people to accept change especially if the change is sudden. I am no exception. I would complain and whined about it. In fact, I will make all kind of excuses to resist the change. I was the Queen of excuses. Give me one positive point and I can give you 101 negative excuses. 

Then, I realised that I was my own worst enemy. I was sabotaging myself.  Of course I had a lot of encouragement from satan, whispering negative things into my ears. Positive changes are good especially those that are suppose to bring you closer to God but we have trouble dealing with it.  

When my daughter told me, a few month ago that our usual transporter was not able to ‘transport’ my kids to and fro, from school, I inwardly groaned. I knew that I was going to be the designated driver, ferrying my kids around. That would actually disrupt my entire daily schedule. Then, I immediately stopped myself. There’s no point me whining or groaning about it. Unless I find a new transporter, I will just have to do it. I just have to change my schedule and embrace the change, regardless of how I feel about it. 

Years ago, when I realised that my life needs to drastically changed, it was not easy for me at first but then I found out that if I embrace the change instead of resisting it, the transition was a lot easier. 

The bottom line is, do I want to change? If I truly wanted to be a better Muslim then change I must. I can’t expect things to get better by just sitting down. If I truly wanted to be a better Muslim, I must stop making excuses.

           

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”

Surah Ar-Rad 13:11

I have to stop giving myself excuse and sabotaging myself. Most of all, I have to stop being my own worst enemy. 

Normal human behaviour is to instinctively become defensive when faced with something negative. The thing is, that negative thing that we perceived, is sometimes a positive change. Our negative attitude is the stumbling block to our change actually, at least, it was in my situation. 

I don’t know about others but I realised that sometimes, in order to embrace the change, I need to cheat myself I need to introduce the change slowly until I get accustomed to it. Drastic change only works when I’m back to a corner or forced to accept the change but more often than not, it does not last. It normally fizzles out and I find myself reverting back to my old self.

Back to my predicament, after accepting the fact that I have to be a ‘mom taxi’, a saviour, in a form of a new transporter recommended by a friend, came to our rescue. Phew! 

So, the moral of the story, when calamity strikes, don’t be too quick to jump. Pray hard for a solution but be prepared for the worst. Embrace changes willingly to ease the transition and never give up on possibility of a miracle….