By Jamal Hasan
We often do spiritual planning. Maybe not in the exact sense of the term, but all of us at some level envision ourselves to be better in the future than we are now.
And we should all have this vision, as the believer's chief goal in life is to rise in spiritual rank. But yet, our aspirations run into spiritual quick-sand: procrastination. Sometimes we lack a sense of urgency to act. Other times we're fed up with ourselves, but say: the situation will change soon, so I'll start doing everything once that change happens. But what we don't realize is that our test lies in our current situation: Allah is looking to see how we will respond now.
Yet other times, we imagine that we need something material in order to improve. More money. Less stress about bills. A bigger house so that I can get some quiet to do dhikr. How many times have we made du’aa for something like that and thought, 'As soon as I get this, I'll improve,' only to discover that when we finally got it, we actually got worse?
So many times, we put conditions on what we need to get better. Know that while those conditions may be met, you will never fulfill your end of the bargain with a mindset like that. The excuses of today will only multiply in the years to come.
The successful one is he who exhibits the profound understanding that Allah placed him in the present for a reason, and he must strive to attain peace in the now.
We strive. And the peace is from Allah. This is Islam.
He dictates. We accept and appreciate. This is Iman.
We make our striving beautiful. This is Ihsan.
The result: Allah loves us, raises us, and grants us even more. He is not bound by our conditions; we are bound to His. Affirm His Majesty; He will show you His Generosity.
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