‘Whatever situation you find yourself in, derive a point of benefit.’

One piece of advice I'll never forget is when it wassaid to me (or did
I read it somewhere?) that: 'Whatever situation you find yourself in,
derive a point of benefit.'
The last 3 weeks (and beforehand) for me have felt like no less than a
rollercoaster ride – sudden phone calls from family, surprises beyond
my expectation, births followed by deaths followed by spontaneous
family drama, abrupt change of plans, unexpected travelling, finding
myself in situationswhere I've been told to make big decisions in less
than 5mins! Phew, I guess you can say it's been slightly err…
challenging. But subhanallah, one thing that didn't leave my mind is
the golden advice: 'Whatever situation you find yourself in, derive a
point of benefit.' – And it was this that had me sitting & looking
over my situation and the changes that came with it, seeking out the
hidden fawa'id (benefits) and trying to take some lesson from it all.
Everybody has a story to tell, and this is the undisputed fact of
life. The maqadir (decrees) of Allah which are embedded into our lives
swiftly take us on a diverse course whereby we all emerge with
something different to oneanother – different experiences, different
strengths & weaknesses, different mentalities and viewpoints. The wise
one ishe/she who learns from these lessons of life, these Signs and
Sunnan of Allah, our Maker `azza wa jall.
For many, acting upon this advice of learning to derivebenefit from
every moment of life will mean taking a few minutes out on a regular
basis, to contemplate over the course of the day, week or even year.
Regardless of whether you perceive yoursituation to be good or bad(or
somewhere in between), there is always apoint of benefit which you can
obtain and take from. The more you do this, the more you develop your
optimism and judgement in matters – and this not only gives you a
healthy outlook on life's sudden twists and turns, but it
alsoincreases your Iman as youlearn to appreciate the Qadr of Allah,
gain husn al-dhann of Allah (good expectations & opinion) and overall
become a moregrateful slave of Allah.
اللهم اجعلنا من الشاكرين الحامدين التائبين العابدين – اللهم آمـــــين

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