• For those who have ever had to start their own fire, you know how much work it can take to find the right wood, the right tinder and the right location.  

• You also know how much physical exertion takes place in generating the amount of friction necessary to actually produce a usable ember.
• And when you finally have this delicate ember, you must carefully nourish it and surround it with materials that it can feed on so that it can grow and spread.
• In this same manner, we often find our Iman.  Sometimes it is really tough for us, caught up in our daily grind, to generate that spark needed to focus on our Iman.  It takes a lot of ‘work’…it takes Salaat with khushoo, sincere du’a, attachment to the Qur’an, contemplation, etc.  And when these things are done with consistancy, and we begin to taste that sweetness of Iman, we must nurture it….
• …We must be delicate with our Iman, so as not to fall into self-righteousness.  We must surround our Iman with increased voluntary prayers, increased recitation of the Qur’an and improved overall akhlaq so that our Iman will gain strength and provide as a protection for us from the cold world.