My wife wrote me a small note a few days ago, which was deeper in meaning than I had thought.
She told me in this note, "don't live from vacation to vacation."
It's a common enough refrain, but I haven't really stopped to think about this before.
I find that often-times, I live my life in segments, waiting for the next vacation, the next trip, the next event to give me time to relax, rest and rejuvenate myself. This seems normal enough on the face of it, but underneath, it hides something insidious.
When we live from vacation to vacation, we are ignoring the present moment. Every moment that we are alive is meant to be a gift, every moment is meant to have meaning. Whether we draw this meaning from the colour of trees and flowers, from reading poetry that touches the soul or music, or whether it is drawn from prayer or love of God or others, these gifts abound throughout our lives. When we ignore the present moment, we ignore these gifts. This ignorance is akin to the greatest of sins a human can commit - Thanklessness.
In Islam, one of the most important aspects of the faith is the concept of submission. Submission goes beyond simply agreeing with what God has in store for us, or accepting our lives. Submission includes being thankful for all that we receive or do not receive. Many times, I've heard others who have let an opportunity pass by be thankful - missing that chance was likely the best thing that could have happened for them. This aspect may seem simplistic to some, but it is a beautiful simplicity.
When we fail to live everyday and instead live from vacation to vacation, we miss the beauty in every moment, we fail to be thankful.
I'm going to try to not live from vacation to vacation. I'm going to try living every moment fully and completely and thankfully. I hope you will too. I guess this attempt is the best thing that could happen to me as well and for this, as everything else. I'm thankful.
