Today is my birthday.

Today is my birthday. I’ve had one more round on earth, on this never ending merry-go-round around the sun. The last couple of rounds- birthdays- I have found myself in different phases. One as a naive undergrad, the other as a struggling post grad working a job and studying, the next as a new bride learning the ropes of marriage, and now as a professional working to ‘have it all’. Each phase was exciting and painful and exhilarating and heartbreaking in equal measures.

Each year was a teacher. Each painful blow, each happy event, each moving moment moulds me further into the person I should be. This year taught me patience and hope in prayer. My relationship with God came at the forefront, blurring everything else. I found liberation in having absolute certainty in God. I’ve learnt that patience does pay, and ‘beautiful patience’ pays even more.

We are so fixated on banging on that one closed door that we miss out the windows wide open. I have learned that sometimes you need to stay put inside and just enjoy the view from there. So you wait patiently and eventually God sends someone to open the door from outside. You then find out that He’d waited till spring to invite you out, just so you didn’t suffer the harsh winter outside. He was removing all the obstacles while you stayed safe in there. And then, when you finally step out, boy is it worth all that wait!

Alhamdulillah for all doors shut when we wanted them open, only to open when the time was right. Alhamdulillah for the open windows that allow us to stay sane and grateful. Alhamdulillah for the most merciful Lord.