The Search for Solace

Sometimes it feels like all is lost. Sometimes it feels like hope is out of reach. Sometimes it feels like you’re on the brink of destruction. But never despair. One day, you are to be brought out of the mist of uncertainty. Never lose hope. One day, you are to materialize the abstract. Be patient. One day, it all will pay off.

There’s an old friend of ours that is waiting for us. He tells us to be patient. He tells us that there’s no use being frustrated, and that there’s no use for bitter tears at the moment. He tells us that patience will always prevail. Indeed, God is with the patient.

That friend of ours is named Solace, a friend that sometimes meets us, and sometimes parts from us. But our goal should always be to reconvene with him, and find each other once again. Though he’s an old friend, when he returns, things don’t have to be like they were before; friends can change. As long as we have that sense of serenity, our friendship will remain bound together.

Dark storms sometimes roar in the iris of our lives. Whether it’s around us, between us, or within us, Solace will run away and leave us in the midst of the darkness sometimes. From the black hole of negativity, light will seem to be inescapable. Incessant, useless thoughts may bombard the very confines of the mind, and people may plague you with the seeds of negative ideas. Your job is to not let those seeds grow into corrupt trees of belief.

When someone says something negative to you, don’t take it to heart. Don’t water the seed of doubt within yourself. Otherwise, it may grow into a self-defeating tree, setting itself up for destruction. It may be poisoned, since the idea itself was poisoned to begin with. Killing itself by the genetically modified beliefs, it will only cause you loss in life and time.

There’s one constant in the midst of this chaos. Once you reach the eye of the storm, you’ll strike an epiphany: time. Time is always propelling forward, surging you into the progress called the present. Like a boat floating in a cold river of time, the moving rapids propel you forward. The river may freeze behind you in the form of the past, and it may be foggy before you in the form of the future. But in the end, all that matters is the work you put forth in the boat of the present. That is what causes the boat to move in the first place. Therein again should you find your friend.

One who looks for answers in the future or the past will find himself in a haze of mist or on slippery, frozen ground. You might lose yourself in that mist. Your thoughts may take over, taunting you of dark, far-off dreams. These dreams may never precede your death. Only time can attest to that. You might try to take a walk back into memory lane. What you might find there may be painful, because you might slip on the frozen past. And regardless, it will be frozen, never changing, and it will be too late. Don’t let the gravity of the past cause you to slip up and give you pain, thus propelling you into a dark future.

Focus. Focus on the present moment and what you can do with yourself in the now. Solace likes to settle in one spot, but he sometimes may be on a different boat than you. You have to chase him.

…Wait. Don’t do that. You might waste your time. Read carefully. What you’re about to read is important.

The search for Solace is in vain. All the efforts you might put forth to search for him may just be in vain. If you look for him, he will just run away. Like trying to catch smoke with your hands, he slips away through your fingers with ease. He is the elusive one. He doesn’t want to be your friend. Not now. Not yet. But soon. Soon, because there is one who is your friend. And he’s my best friend. His name is Time.

They say Time is fleeting.

No.

Time is eternal.

There’s nothing fleeting about time at all. It’s only the objects that time grasps which are fleeting. Like a dream, things depart and destroy with Time. They phase in and out of reality. One should never curse time, because indeed, God is Time. Man curses Time. But he realizes his efforts are in vain, because in Time…by Time…through Time…he will inevitably return to his Master.

“Allah said: Sons of Adam inveigh against [the vicissitudes of] Time, and I am Time, in My hand is the night and the day.” -Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Solace doesn’t want to be your friend. Not yet. But Time wants to be your friend. He wants to help you. You just have to be with Him. You have to obey Him. You have to submit to Him. If you do, you will be in grasp of one of the most perplexing friends in existence: Patience.

Patience is a powerful tool. It helps you through anything and everything. It’s one of the most powerful weapons man can wield. But sometimes, man doesn’t want to wield it. Sometimes, it can feel like a hot coal that man thinks he can’t handle. Man’s problem, though, is that he doesn’t want to befriend Time. And until he does, he won’t be able to utilize this powerful weapon. And until he does, Solace won’t reconvene with him.

A day will come when Solace will return to you. That day will come once you grasp that sword of willpower called Patience. And with it, you may cleave any darkness that may come upon you. And Time will be pleased with you, and you with Him. That day, you will prevail.