“Bismillah (In the Name of God)”
What is your spirit?
In the Oxford Language Dictionary, a spirit is defined as; “The nonphysical part of a person which is the seat of emotions and character; the soul.”
In surah fifteen verse twenty-nine and surah thirty-two verse nine, God said He shaped the body, then breath into the body His spirit.
To me, spirit can also be described as the breath of life that is given to us by God and our compass in navigating ourselves on earth.
No matter how we describe spirits, it will always be a mysterious force that is there to guide us in this life. Here are three ways to honor your spirit.
1) Put God First
Without God, we cannot exist. Although, we have been given free will with the instructions to serve, worship, pray, and ask God only for everything. By putting God first in all that you do and relying on His grace for all your needs, by doing so, you are acknowledging God’s greatness and admits that nothing can be done without Him.
2) Be True to Yourself
How many times do you find yourself doing something to either please or impress someone? Or to keep your job.
I was working in a childcare institution and one day, I received a phone call from one of the parents. He wanted to know what happened to his child. He said” Today my daughter came home, and she told me my body’s hurting, my mom and I took off her clothes, we looked at her body and found nothing, can you tell me what happened?” I replied, “I don’t know, she was fine in school.” The following day, I was talking to a coworker about the call. He replied, it is so cold here. One day, we will have to answer to God for these babies. Then, it occurred to me that in my private life I work hard to be true and honest in dealing with others. Therefore, I cannot let work mess up my character so at the end of the school year, I left.
3) Avoid Hurting Others
Sometimes, simple words can cause serious problems when taken out of context or through misrepresentation. Regardless of your reason, hurting someone physically or emotionally can bring sadness to you. One time, I was working and the substitute teacher in a school. During the day, I went to different classrooms. At the end of the day, I found myself working as the supporting teacher in the 5th grade class. The bell rang, everyone was in place except for one student who came late. Once he realized That the main teacher was absent, he started to put on a show for the class. He dragged himself from one end of the classroom to the other. He started talking over the teacher who was giving instruction to the class. Ten minutes later, he was still disturbing the class. He went from one student to the next instead of sitting down. I had instructed them many times to be quiet and sit down and still nothing. Finally, I asked him “Why are you dragging? Why are you so slow?” The moment he heard the word slow his demeanor changed. He started saying,” Oh, she called me slow, and no one is saying anything.” I replied “Yes, look how much time you wasted, please sit down” but he didn’t. As he was complaining, the assistant principal came she saw that he was standing and talking so she asked him to come outside with her. I don’t know what he told her. A few minutes, I was called out also to talk to him. I asked him, “does the word respect mean anything to you when you enter the classroom? You must follow instruction”. He replied, “She said I’m slow.” I said nothing because I didn’t want to argue with him anymore. About a week later, I went to the bureau of substitute teachers because the assistant principal had filed a complaint against me. In the complaint, it was written that I called the student retarded. I explained to the person what happened in the classroom and exactly what I said. I said, “how can I say he’s retarded? when all he was doing was slowly walking back and forth and talking loudly.” The gentleman understood the situation and cleared me. Regardless of the situation, the child’s feelings were hurt because he misunderstood my words or the meaning. The assistant principal did not ask for clarification nor spoke to me regarding the incident. In the end, I also got hurt because a complaint was filed against me, and I had to defend myself and my reputation as an instructor.
In conclusion, Have I chosen another word instead of slow I could have prevented this incident. I found out later on that the student was a special needs student. So, to him the word slow is not a welcoming one.