When you scroll through Instagram, Facebook and you look at the picture perfect life of your family, friends and random people remember they are fighting battles and facing challenges you may know not of. They also have dark days, worries, stress, pain and tears masked behind a beautiful smile. Yes you are looking at a glimpse of their life, just a piece of the puzzle not the complete and real picture.
When you are tired and frustrated with your financial status as your budget for the month just depleted remember those who live on the street, searching in rubbish bins for food and with a shattered heart, feeding their children stale slices of bread someone handed to them.
When you feel sad, perhaps bored in your marriage as ten years and three kids later the romance has fizzled out and the routine of everyday responsibilities has made your life miserable remember the sister who just lost her husband after two years of being married. She is now a single mother to a one year old little girl. You have your family, you have a chance to reset your life and add some excitement to every precious second you share together.
When you look at your furniture and wish you could do an extreme home makeover remember your brothers and sisters living in refugee camps all over the world as their homes, loved ones and everything they ever owned crumbled to the ground.
When you curse your car as you stop at a traffic signal and see your high school friend driving the latest sports car remember the man you just passed by walking for miles with a heavy load of sugarcane attached to his back.
When you feel fat, ugly, miserable and begin to hate the reflection staring back at you in the mirror remember all those people in hospital who are fighting between life and death and wish for just one more day of life, love and laughter.
When you feel like a failure as the world encloses on you. When you feel as if your mountain of problems seems to be getting heavier every day remember the ones that are buried six feet in the earth. They too faced challenges, had worries, pain, problems, dreams, hopes, aspirations and worldly suffering, yet those people have returned to Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa) with nothing but their deeds. Nothing and nobody matters in this world but the good that you do for others as well as yourself.
When you feel your days are dark, your Du’aas remain unanswered, your heart shattered, your peace extracted, your pain invisible, your hurt unmatchable and you feel like giving up on yourself remember your success is a Sajdah (Prostration), in front of Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa), away. Your Du’aas are being answered always, your peace and happiness lies within yourself. When you feel you are sinking into the depths of despair reach out to the creator of happiness, peace, light and love, the creator of you and the creator of me — the creator who created you in the best of form and the creator who is closer to you than your jugular vein. Reach out to Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa), cry to Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa), thank Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa), talk to Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa) and beg of Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa) for all that you have and for all that you may not have for everything you have and everything you do not have is a blessing.
When you feel like you have no purpose just place your hand on your heart and feel that purpose beat.
Alhamdullilah for everything we have and Alhamdullilah for everything we do not have. Live a life of gratitude.
Muslims should recognize that all of their blessings come from Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa). They should always remind themselves to give thanks to Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa) throughout the day and night, all of their lives.
To demonstrate this gratitude, Islam tells us to keep our lives upright and steadfast on the commandments of Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa) by sticking to the Sunnah of Prophet Hadhrat Mohammad (SallAllaho Alaihe WaSallam) in every walk of our daily life. This should reflect in our ‘Aqaaid (Beliefs) ‘Ibaadaat (Worships), Mu’aamlaat (Dealings), Mu’aashrat (Social behaviors) and Akhlaaq (the explicit and implicit character).
Following Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aalaa)’s guidance through the course of the day is the best way to offer thanks to Him.