Halim Naeem.com

Tests Build Character…

It has been a long time, a very long time since my last post. I have had a lot of time to think about life and what is important. Our development towards masculinity is a lifelong one. There will be many tests in the way. One may wonder, "why do there have to be so many tests in life? Why cannot there be peace througought life?" Let us remember, the predominant characteristic of Masculinity is strength. Someone who is very strong has to maintain thier strength. A bodybuilder must consistently put his muscles under significant stress in order to keep the strength that he has.

Tests in life are pretty similar. They pull something out of us. For example with me intelligence is a sensitive area in my heart. So when someone I care about insults my intelligence, that is a big test for my heart. It is a test to see if my will gives in to the lower base desires of anger, arrogance, and hate. Will I lash out and scream at the person? Will I do something subtle to belittle them and make them hurt as much as I do inside? Will I hold it all in and resent them for a significant period of time? Or, can I just let it go? It sounds simple, like most things do, but for me, it's a very hard thing to do (I would imagine for others as well). Sometimes as a man, the hardest thing for us to do in the heat of the moment, is to do nothing at all.

Much of this has to do with Fortitude as we have discussed before. Tests are the urges and desires of yourself and others who take you away from the path to your Creator, the key to unlock the infinite secret behind your spiritual masculinity. Gravity will always pull down. Strength is defined by how much one can resist the pull. This past year was full of tests for me. Looking back, I truly got to see some of the baser parts of my self. I got to see how I function when I have fear. I got to see myself angry and resentful beyond my own imagination. I was privileged (yes, privileged) to see people blatantly try to deter me from my path to complete masculinity, and more importantly, my Creator. It was a trying time. It was one of those years where you sincerely wonder if your marriage will last, your career, everything.

Somehow, by the grace of God, we made it through. It was great preparation for what was to come. All tests are a preparation. They are a preparation right up to the end of your life. One could ask, "why so much preparation when you are going to die? Why so much preparation for the last second of your life?" The most important second of your life is not your first, but your last. Everything you do before you leave is a manifestation of what is to come. Your character is shown and defined by the last moments in your life. The last moments of what is in your heart, how you feel, the peace, the security, ther preparation to leave this world, that is the most important second of your life. All the tests, trials, and tribulations that we have spoken of are to prepare you, like packing items in a suitcase for a journey. This journey will take you to your true masculinity, your true self and your true creator. So do know that tests build your character. They build the internal paradise of peace brick by brick so that you will see the external one with utmost clarity.

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