It’s been weird over the last few days.

Even while I’ve been nourishing my soul, I’ve been feeling a bit restless and impatient on the career front. That’s pretty normal during ‘wait’ mode.

‘Wait’ mode of course is when you’re waiting to hear and even though it’s supposed to get easier it never does.

And anyway, so I was getting kind of impatient, thinking geez, what’s taking them so long??? And then when I was reading the Quran, I came across a verse that jolted me upright.

It was talking about when armed struggle became part of the injunction of God, and in particular it mentioned a moment where the people who are being oppressed, old men, women, and children, are crying out to their Lord, “When will the help of God come?”

And it got me to thinking about all the conflict around the world, Egypt and Syria and Iraq and the African countries with their civil wars and unrest, and Chechnya and how genuinely awful a lot of people’s lives are, and here am I, living my completely comfortable life in peace, with not much to worry about except upcoming preparations for Eid and a darn wart that’s popped up on my middle finger, with the luxury of writing and expressing my thoughts and even getting paid for it, and here I am not appreciating all that, and instead looking ahead to what I don’t have!

And it made me feel humbled.

And it made me think back to when I was first starting. If I knew then what I’d have accomplished by now, masha Allah, I would have been jumping for joy! For it was never a guarrantee that I’d ever get anywhere!

Alhamdu lillah, gotta stop this yearning and live in the present, appreciate what I have, and pray for those who are struggling.

Love what the Pope is doing in Brazil. Saw a story on Al Jazeera of him hugging drug addicts down there and offering support and help for them to get rid of their addictions, using people who were past addicts, and you just think, look at that! And the Pope is setting such a good example! He’s refused to get fitted for the Prada Pope slippers, those red shoes that the Pope wears, because his old second-hand shoes are still good enough and he’s just too darn busy apparently. And he has been warning priests against luxury and enjoining them to get back to helping the poor!

I think we can all take that idea to heart!

And ditch the entitlements!