Ramadan 2025 Day Nineteen: Are You Listening?

“And Solomon succeeded David.
He said ‘People, we have been taught the language of birds,
and we have been blessed with a share of everything.
This is clearly a great favor from God’s Grace.’
And gathered together for Solomon
were armies of jinns, men, and birds,
all marshalled in ranks before him.
And when they came to the Valley of the Ants,
one of the ants said: ‘Oh ants!
Go back into your homes so that Solomon and his armies do not unwittingly trample you.’
Solomon smiled broadly at her words and said,
‘Oh Lord, inspire me so that I am thankful for the blessings you have granted me and my parents,
and so that I may do good deeds that please You;
and admit me by Your Mercy to be among Your righteous servants.’”
-Sura Al-Naml

Everything communicates. Alive, organic, manufactured, inanimate - everything is telling the world something.

A flower blooms - perhaps telling you the weather may be warming and/or the sun is out.

A chair creaks - perhaps telling you something about its capacity, construction, or age.

A spiced dish smells - perhaps telling you that there are some good things coming your tastebuds’ way.

A cat’s belly vibrates with its purr - perhaps telling you it feels safe and trusts you enough to let you pet the danger zone.

Everything, “living” or not, has its own way of telling its story. We will never understand every single language that exists on this plane of existence, and there is joyful humility in that reality. It invites us to remain open to communication we may not realize is precisely that - to signals sent to any one of our senses, instincts felt in our hearts or souls - that are something’s language inviting us to learn. To stay curious. To engage.

When we experience those moments of understanding, especially the unexpected ones, how do we honor them? What does this new connection our senses forged shift our being? How does learning a new “language” bring us closer to God?