These Weekly Tips are from my speech at the 2016 Muslim Women’s Literary Conference: “Just Let Me Bee: Finding Your Creative Niche”
What are you thankful for today? What are you celebrating? What are you harvesting?
What is your life for? What are you here for?
The worker bee is a female. The queen is a female. The guards, nurses, foragers, pollinators, honey makers,…all females. She lives for a month but leaves behind honey that doesn’t expire, as well as flowers, fruits, vegetables for the rest of creation. She is virtually working from the day she is born until the day she dies. As for the male bees, they are called drones–they don’t live as long. Their main role is to impregnate the Queen and leave enough sperm to keep the colony thriving for about 8 years. His work is to keep the bees reproducing–keep the colony alive so they can keep serving. The men’s job is about survival. On the other hand, the worker bees…the females…their job is about thriving. How does this dynamic play out in our own human communities?
For those of us in the “sandwich generation” (around 30), imagine if we used each year of our lives like the bees use each day of their life. Imagine what our lives could be used for and what great feats we could accomplish. The major obstacle is that we must keep track of our time. In an age of so many distractions where time seems to really fly, we must make choices as to what is most important for us in the long run. We also must see that there is a place for everyone…cleaners, nurses, builders…in the colonies and communities that we belong to. We women often do a little of it all, and wear many hats. We must learn to delegate, and we must learn to follow our hearts to know where we really shine. In delegation and supporting each other with different roles and jobs, we free up each other’s time so that we can harvest the fruits of our labor. Our time is the one thing we can never get back, and our most precious possession by which to earn our keep…our living…our way back home to the King.
Celebrate this moment and be thankful for the time you have with whatever and whoever you have–reap the benefit of your harvests! Don’t sow seeds that won’t grow and don’t neglect those that will. Give everything your all–your sunshine, your water, your air, and watch the time you spent well bloom!
THE SANDAL 
Very true. Many of us especially women wear so many hats. There are many stories about things people have done and others may see as insignificant, however, in the Eyes of our Creator these are magnanimous acts. For example, setting someone on right and then going to do good, or serving a creature of Allah. In both of these are examples of people being forgiven. As you state, we should not be neglectful of what we do.
You are sooo right. If we look to the stories that we have been left with from history, we see that there are many opportunities to draw closer to Our Creator no matter the role or job we’ve been given to do. Our task is to accept it and work with it with grace, humility, and gratitude.
Reblogged this on Hassan Abdullah's Instructional Design Page.