Halal, Living, and Moving Forward In My Faith

So, I just tried one of the My Own Meal ready-made meals. These are not frozen meals, by the way, but meals kept inside a tin foil-like packaging within a box, generally used to replace MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat- the boxed up meals Soldiers eat when hot meals are not available) for Muslim Soldiers. These are Halal meals. What caught me off-guard about these was the back of the box- the President and Founder of the company is Ms. Mary Anne Jackson- a woman. This both impressed and surprised me- positively, of course, as much of the Muslim community tends to not put women in places of power. These meals are listed as both Kosher and Halal, so she may not be Muslim, but, either way, I liked seeing it, both as a woman and a Baha'i.

So, I stumbled across a blog post about blogging while Baha'i which pointed out that blogging is a form of social discourse, one of the main goals for our Faith. I felt a little better about the activity and lack there of where my Faith has been concerned lately. The Baha'i Faith is something I believe whole-heartedly in, though I am a young Baha'i, and still very much finding my own way.

I was listening to the song Standing Outside The Fire earlier- a country song I really love- and I realized why it always made me feel so good to hear it. The song, in a roundabout way, talks about people who live 'outside the fire' and take caution with themselves, their hearts and their lives, versus those who tend to live life  'within the fire' who live life fully, but take the risks with their hearts that others wouldn't. "Life is not tried, it is merely survived, when you're standing outside the fire." This is my favorite line, because it reminds me that, all the times people have told me to slow down, to take my time, to not rush into things or take risks, it was a risk I chose to take, and, ultimately, helped me really live life, rather than waiting for life to happen. I could have a lot less scars- physically and emotionally- but I'm proud of my scars, and I came by them rightfully, and, at 25, I have experienced much more than so many people, and I love that. I miss people, there are things I wish I had done differently, but, ultimately, I truly believe I have done everything to the best of my ability, and, furthermore, truly lived my life these past 25 years. The last year or so, I've started asking myself if I'd have any regrets if I died in my sleep tonight, and, more and more often, the answer is no. People may wish they had lived more, on their death bed, but most people don't really wish they'd lived less. I'd rather die living a life I loved, than live a life just to get to death.