I recently received an e-mail asking “who comes first in your life, if it Allah stop what you are doing immediately and forward this e-mail to twelve people”, I was highly motivated to prove to myself that Allah does come first in my life, and I will forward this e-mail to twelve people, but for now I will have to settle on marking it as unread (I’ll get back to it later) and tackle the mound of work that my ‘colleague’ aka boss is busy raising on my desk.
I have also come across such a question on one of my friend’s Facebook status. ‘Does God come first in your life?’ For some people the answer is instantaneous, a bold YES. Hence again I was tempted and highly motivated to also type a bold YES. As my fingers approached the keyboard I was forced to control that knee-jerk reaction and think, no matter how much we may lie, this was no lie to tell myself or put on Facebook. I really just sat and pondered about the question, looking into my life and daily activities. Other than the allocated prayer time, do my other actions really speak to God?
Every day I wake up pray, then start with the usual, shower, get dressed, prepare the lunchbox, off to work. When I get to work, well I work the pile on my desk, break for prayer & lunch, and get back to work. In this time I have already prayed twice but where does God fit into all this work? Did I even pray when I was praying or was I thinking of the work I have to return to, to complete.
Each passing day we run through this routine like programmed robots, even though we start and end our days with prayer but are our actions in-between God related? Is He really a priority in your life? Let me ask myself... “Sakina, would you resign today from your job to serve God?” “Well, it’s not really ok to just leave work, I need the money for the blender, my savings and of course I do my share towards charity (the I do good justification), ummm come on I really need the money right now, and besides you don’t have to be drastic to be God conscious(more justification),” blah blah blah Sakina!
Well yes, you do not have to travel miles and miles to be God conscious, but we have to examine our daily action on how they relate us to The Almighty so that even when you are working, He is your priority and you are serving Him while offering a service to others, while accumulating wealth, while eating etc.
Just sit and ponder for a while, take time and look into your daily activities and ask yourself “Who comes first?”
PS I will not be forwarding the e-mail until I feel that fully Allah comes first.
Peace.
Showing posts with label Reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reflection. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Confession of a Gambler by Rayda Jacobs
Bismillah
This past weekend on Saturday I finally finished the book my husband was busy competing with for attention, and I must say for such a well written book I am disappointed in the ending but I guess it is the author’s right. The book is based on a woman who gambles to ease or run away from her pain. She is an addict and it takes her long enough after the usual experiences of a gambling addict such as borrowing money and being in a position of plain desperation until she sees that she has got a problem. Yes she goes through tough experiences but what annoyed me while reading the book is that she falls into doing the same sin over and over again and justifies it. We all have our addictions but there should come a time when we redeem ourselves, repent to God and walk away, which is what I thought will happen to the character in the end, she will redeem herself and not gamble again instead of making it out as a naughty act she might visit from time to time. However I must say that Rayda is a great writer, very detailed, very graphic as well. I am looking forward to reading her next book.
Some sins sometimes are great obstacles to overcome. The juiciness of gossip, the relief a lie brings instead of facing the bitter truth and its consequences, the enjoyment of the excitement of adultery and the thrill and power of oppressing someone. But at the end these to lead to nothing but total destruction of the soul and when we justify our sins we are opening a window to make them habitual and a habit becomes who you are. You are no longer someone who gossips, but you become known as THE gossip, THE liar, THE oppressor, THE adulterer. What a bad name to have!
We are human and it is in our nature to sin, but it is also in our nature to resist and train our conscious to help us with the will to resist sin. Another issue that brings us to sin is the lack of life in our own lives. We gossip about others because we have idle minds, and lack fruitfulness in ours. We oppress others as we find lack of control in our own situations.
God did not prevent us from doing certain acts except for our own benefit. If we would focus all this great energy into planting something positive into our lives or even better is to contribute something positive in someone else’s life. We will receive a much greater rewards than the instant satisfaction of a sin. Let us pull each other up; it is a great effort but a greatly rewarding one too.
Peace!
This past weekend on Saturday I finally finished the book my husband was busy competing with for attention, and I must say for such a well written book I am disappointed in the ending but I guess it is the author’s right. The book is based on a woman who gambles to ease or run away from her pain. She is an addict and it takes her long enough after the usual experiences of a gambling addict such as borrowing money and being in a position of plain desperation until she sees that she has got a problem. Yes she goes through tough experiences but what annoyed me while reading the book is that she falls into doing the same sin over and over again and justifies it. We all have our addictions but there should come a time when we redeem ourselves, repent to God and walk away, which is what I thought will happen to the character in the end, she will redeem herself and not gamble again instead of making it out as a naughty act she might visit from time to time. However I must say that Rayda is a great writer, very detailed, very graphic as well. I am looking forward to reading her next book.
Some sins sometimes are great obstacles to overcome. The juiciness of gossip, the relief a lie brings instead of facing the bitter truth and its consequences, the enjoyment of the excitement of adultery and the thrill and power of oppressing someone. But at the end these to lead to nothing but total destruction of the soul and when we justify our sins we are opening a window to make them habitual and a habit becomes who you are. You are no longer someone who gossips, but you become known as THE gossip, THE liar, THE oppressor, THE adulterer. What a bad name to have!
We are human and it is in our nature to sin, but it is also in our nature to resist and train our conscious to help us with the will to resist sin. Another issue that brings us to sin is the lack of life in our own lives. We gossip about others because we have idle minds, and lack fruitfulness in ours. We oppress others as we find lack of control in our own situations.
God did not prevent us from doing certain acts except for our own benefit. If we would focus all this great energy into planting something positive into our lives or even better is to contribute something positive in someone else’s life. We will receive a much greater rewards than the instant satisfaction of a sin. Let us pull each other up; it is a great effort but a greatly rewarding one too.
Peace!
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