I have been saying “The struggle is real but so is the gratitude” a lot lately. It is my own phrase though in the end it will probably be misattributed to Aristotle or Confucius. But I’ll spell out what it means to me right now in this moment.
The word struggle is deeply tied to the idea of jihad. There is something very noble in exhausting oneself for the sake of God. There’s a Hadith which sadly I have been told as inauthentic that describes the greater struggle and the lesser struggle. The lesser is struggling against the evil in the world and the greater is struggling against the evil in myself. If Islam ever embraced that idea it would not be so hard for me to consider it a “Religion of Peace.” But as you might imagine my own evil is my concern and their evil is theirs. I will continue to struggle to make correct choices and can only hope that my example serves others.
Gratitude is the other virtue in my couplet. In the LDS tradition we are taught to be grateful for the freedom to choose. We can also be grateful for the blessings in our lives. I am surrounded by love. We have a roof that doesn’t leak. We have food in the refrigerator. We have hot and cold running water and flush toilets. We have a furnace and fans for colder and hotter days. We have books and cats and internet access. All this is reason to be grateful. But The Church teaches us to even be grateful for our trials. When we are faced with hard choices and we choose correctly, then it makes us more divine.
Latter Day Sinner 