Appreciating the Now

I read a facebook status the other day that got me thinking.  The status was written by a college student who wrote something along the lines of “Can’t wait to graduate…sick of school”.  Now I know what you’re thinking…so what?  What’s the big deal?  That is a statement that’s heard on college campuses throughout the world each and everyday.

So let me explain why I have a problem with that statement…

How many times have you heard someone start a sentence with the words “I can’t wait unitl…”  How many times have we made statements that start with those words?  If you’re like me, then you’ve probably heard it and said it yourself more times than you can count.

The problem of course with that statement is not in the statement itself, but rather what’s behind it.  You see, by always saying I can’t wait until…fill in the blank (graduation, new job, promotion, marriage, new flat screen, new car, new house, new husband or wife etc.), is that we fail to appreciate the Now.  We fail to appreciate what we have currently; what God has blessed us with right now.  It is an attitude that is inherently ungrateful; and that is wrong.

Rather than always just look towards what’s next, we should be grateful for what we have.  As the prophet Muhammad, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, taught us that when it comes to this world we should compare ourselves to those that have less than us; and when it comes to our faith and deeds we should compare ourselves to those that are better than us.  These simple words of wisdom remind us that no matter what we think we don’t have in life; we still do have more than most in the world.  More than half of the world lives in poverty and here we are anxiously anticipating the day that we can upgrade from a 32 inch to a 50 inch flat screen television.  Seriously?

A friend of mine was teaching a class and he had his students do an interesting exercise.  He told them to get out a sheet of paper and pen and write down every blessing that God has given to them.  After a few minutes he told them to stop and it became very apparent to all of them that there was no way that they could count all of them, which is exactly what God tells us in the Quran.

The point of this exercise was to show the students that they have way more to be thankful for than they do to complain about.

Everyday, let’s try to be thankful for what Allah has blessed us with and be thankful for the situation that we are in now.

If we take this mental approach, I can guarantee you that you will enjoy your life more.

You will begin to appreciate being in college and not having a pile of bills to pay every month.

You will begin to appreciate having a wife or husband that cares for you despite your shortcomings.

You will start to enjoy the sound of your baby crying because you realize how lucky you are to have one and that there are many people in the world who can’t have even one.

You will begin to appreciate the position you have at work and thank God that you have a job, when 10% of the country is unemployed.

You will begin to thank God that you have a car that functions when there are people standing outside in the heat or cold anxiously awaiting the bus to arrive.

You will begin to see that there’s really not that big a difference between a 32 and 50 inch screen (I know that’s blasphemy for some of you men out there…..grow up and get over it!)

And you will begin to appreciate the roof that you have over your head when all you have to do is check any news website and view recent pictures from Haiti or Chile and see how blessed and lucky we truly are.

After all, the only thing that we are guaranteed is Now…we have no idea if we’re even going to be in this world tomorrow or not, so we should take advantage of today and start Appreciating the Now.

I thank Ash-Shakoor (The One Deserving of Thanks) for everything that he has blessed me and my family with.

I ask al Hadi (The One who Guides) to guide us to become more appreciative of His Many blessings.

And I pray that Allah allows us to become more accepting and appreciative of His Divine Decree.

Ameen.