Bayazid Vistami, a Sufi master, wrote in his autobiography: “When I was young, I dreamed of changing the whole world. I prayed:
- Lord, give me such strength that I can remake the world!
Everything seemed wrong to me then. I was a revolutionary, I wanted to change everything and everyone. I dreamed of changing the face of the Earth.
As I grew up, I began to pray like this:
- Lord! Half my life has passed, and I still haven’t changed a single person. Changing the world is probably beyond my power; the strength is leaving my hands. Let me change at least my family!
And when wisdom came to me, and I realized that if I manage to change only one person - myself, then this will be more than enough. And I started to pray like this
- Lord, I don’t want to change anything around me! I only want to change myself! God! Let me do this!
And then God answered me:
- Now you don't have time for this. We should have thought about this at the beginning."
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru