I recently picked up a book by Muhammed Ali and his daughter Hana Yasmeen Ali. The book is called "The soul of a butterfly" and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone
I could chat all day about it however there is two bits I want to write here that you might enjoy as much as I did:After being turned down after asking for a glass of water when he was a wee boy (due to his colour) his mother says to him, " hating is wrong no matter who does the hating. Its just plain wrong."
Then Ali reflects:
"I knew my heart could harden in a world of so much pain, confusion, and injustice. Somehow I knew if I were going to survive , I could not become bitter. I would have to love even those who could not give it in return. I would have to learn to forgive even those who would not - or my soul would wither away."
The other bit that grabbed me especially while Nicky and Perry have been encouraging everyone to live their passions and not live their fears! :
"I remember my father saying to me ""Always confront the things you fear."" I realised that we are only brave when we have something to lose and we still try. We cant be brave without fear.
That is so interesting - WE CANT BE BRAVE WITHOUT FEAR. Do you think thats true? If we were brought up perfected in love would we still have the opportunity to be brave? If not should we embrace this opportunity to be brave more!? similar to Jesus saying "wow there is SO much opportunity to love in a world filled with so much hate etc...."
Im scared to tell people I believe in God let alone that I listen to a guy that says he is Jesus and a lady saying she is Mary.... therefore as Ali asked himself "we are only brave when we have something to lose" - what do I have to lose in this scenario? Every time I chat about God to someone I cry with relief as I love it so much but by asking what I have to lose by not or by doing has helped a lot!
This passage from Ali has given me a lot of food for thought and thought it might for some of you guys too x