Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakaatuh
Its really hard to be consistent in lots of things. In study...in leisure-reading (especially for someone like me who's at a kindergarten stage in learning-to-make-reading-as-a-habit thing)...in 'amal (going to usrah or reading daily ma'thurat, perhaps?)...in jogging (love jogging but sometimes toooo lazy to go out)...in relationships (calling home once a week?)..in blogging (like reading, writing won 2nd place in my so-called lazylist)
Well, easy to say...its difficult to be consistent in maintaining high spirit, high physical, high mental knowledge, high positive-emotions...anybody remember "J.E.R.I" ?? zaman sekolah dulu kala..
Anyway, today is 14th of Muharram 1431 hijrah..and tomorrow is 1 January 2010..how time flies..alhamdulillah I got to experience new year hijrah at home..and now new year 2010 here in Auckland, New Zealand! Can't wait to see the fireworks!!
Looking back at the previous year, what have I done? Where did I improve? What have I overlooked? Was I any better from last year? Or still the same old unchanged me?
A question after another...which goes on and on and on.....
A good step for evaluation is to find your "I have a dream for 2009" list from last year, which unfortunately I couldn't find..silly me..It wasn't in my planner..so must've been somewhere else at home. Anyway if you do have it try to tick the ones that made it to the target. For me myself, I'd have to make a new list of what I think I have improved for the last one year.
One thing that I've learned was that a good start would be having a daily checklist, the 'mutaba'ah amal'...and for the long-run aim - be practical. This reminder is totally for none other than myself. Having an ideal idea of for example -working out 3 times a week to lose weight or hafazing a surah every fortnight, seems too good to be true. We all know our own potential..our own abilities..our own constraints..So, build yourself with little things to start with, and add up from year to year. You can't consume all the food in the world at one time, you know..enjoy it bit by bit as you go along..then only you'd get the chance to taste different kind of food at different places with different people throughout your journey. Its not so much about getting your stomach filled, but the invaluable experience you'd get while you're filling you stomach. Does that make any sense? Well, I would say it as an indirect blessing from Allah which you can't see but you could feel. What is more to that is the ultimate reward of Jannah for those who are Istiqamah
" Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang berkata "Tuhan kami adalah Allah", kemudian mereka meneguhkan pendirian mereka (thumma sstaqim), maka malaikat-malaikat akan turun kepada mereka (dengan berkata), "Janganlah kamu merasa takut dan janganlah kamu bersedih hati; dan bergembiralah kamu dengan syurga yang telah dijanjikan kepadamu."
[Surah Fussilat, 41:30]
Subhanallah isn't that good news, ya mukmineen? Yes, you and me! InsyaAllah.
Everyone wants their dreams to come true..My suggestion is that, start now..plan in detail..make progression..maintain high spirit..never lose hope to Allah..
I just remembered what this one ustaz said during his ceramah back home. He said that if it was written that we were to reach a high position 'indaAllah (di sisi Allah), and we couldn't reach it with our possession (harta), then Allah would test us with our health and family until we do reach that invaluable position.
So my dear friends, to be consistent and berpendirian teguh (istiqamah), it needs hard work..Struggle is a must. Let me share with you a story of a butterfly:
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further. So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body.
To his surprise, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly!
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us. We will not be as strong as we could have been and we would never fly with flying colours.
A reminder just in case you forgot. Sounds familiar? :P
Wallahua'lam. Allah knows best.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.
