Don’t know the skills of stitching but Alhamdulillah can do a little bit of (weird) repair work.
As I was repairing this bag, with the last thread getting its mending job done, was wondering how sometimes even a branded bag like American Tourister needs mending!
SubhanAllah! This took me wondering that how sometimes, we too consider ourselves as almost perfect (like a brand which can endure a lot, and doesn’t need any mending), but when we break, we don’t forgive ourselves. We often re-visit the thoughts and blame ourselves to a great extent.
Well! To introspect is good, to analyse and reflect is commendable, but to re-think and ruminate again and again the same thing and blaming ourselves for even going near to the sharp edge is actually what makes us almost broken to unprecedented levels, as we don’t allow ourselves to forgive ourselves.
Yes! read it again, we don’t allow ourselves to forgive ourselves, even though we didn’t fall into any pit,
Allah Al-Hafeez has always saved us from falling into any such harmful pit, but then too we often blame ourselves too much for even going near to the sharp edge!
SubhanAllah! we are often good in counselling others, and we are best in being kind with others, but often we forget that we too need all that kindness on ourselves.
Sometimes, we are too harsh upon ourselves that we don’t allow our own kindness and forgiveness to permeate and sink in through our own skin. Although we are too kind to forgive others on their big follies, but when it comes to us, we reckon it in a very harsh manner and take it too hard on ourselves that how come we even go near to the verge/edge? What if we had fallen into the pit?
Sometimes, we think ourselves like a brand which is perfect enough to endure it all, but we often forget even branded materials need mending at times.
Amazingly! There are people who consider such people as “sick,” but I consider them as people conscious of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى on the highest degree. They are too critical of themselves and this is what makes them shine and glitter as gold eventually.
Yes! I mended the American Tourister bag with a simple black thread, camouflaged with the bag’s colour.
But here I would like to mention about a different famous technique and an art, it is called Kintsugi, literally meaning golden (“kin”) and repair (“tsugi”) implying golden repair. It is a process to convert the cracks, the broken, the fragmented part of the ceramics into a more refined, and beautiful form by joining them together with gold.
The people who are too harsh to forgive themselves at first place, because they did honour themselves to great degrees and that’s why even a small sin/shortcoming appears too much in their sight, but actually that’s the brokenness they feel when they have honoured themselves to high degrees by being obedient to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى wholeheartedly, so when they sin even minor ones or when they find themselves even near to the edge of falling into sins, they break when they witness some shortcomings on their back, on their part as they know the gravity that Whom they were going to disobey, they know by being disobedient to Allah SWT they will eventually dishonor themselves. Such people just need to be filling their brokenness, their cracks, their shortcomings with such an art, making it glued with gold by sincere repentance and turning the pain into the pen, all the pain into gain by being an inspiration first and foremost for themselves that how they not only forgave themselves but channelised the guilt, the brokenness by repairing it in a way that it took a form of a new, beautiful, golden, precious formation altogether in their sight and most importantly in Allah’s sight inshaAllah, and if one is gold in Allah’s sight then they have attained it all.
Let the cracks, the shortcomings be repaired with gold, making it more refined and valuable!
You are special,
take care.
Honour yourself.
When shattered, scatter the broken pieces, gather and
mend it with gold.
Here and in Hereafter the stories will then be told.
InshaAllah!
(Image of cup mended with gold is taken from internet).