For children, - Moral Story: Efforts of a little bird (Ababeel)

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Once there was a little bird (Ababeel) that lived during the times of Prophet Abraham (Hazrat Ibrahim AS). When Prophet Abraham (pbuh) was thrown into fire by the enemy of faith, King Nimrod, a little bird saw what happen and decide to put out the fire to help Prophet Abraham (pbuh). The little bird starts scooping up few drops of water in her tiny beak from the nearby river. The larger birds in the vicinity watched and laughed at the little bird and they said, "Where are you carrying the water?"
The little bird said, "To put out the fire around Prophet Abraham (pbuh)." The larger birds continue laughing. "How could you put out such a huge fire with such a small amount of water? It is pointless and useless."
Do you know what the little bird replied? "I am sure Allah (SWT) will not asked me whether I manage to put out the fire or not. But Allah (SWT) will ask what I have done to stop the fire."
Hearing the answer, all the larger birds are silenced.
We often think that our effort is the one responsible for our success. This is wrong way of thinking because Allah (SWT) is the One. If he says we succeeded, we will succeed. Our effort is just a sacrifice that we are willing to make. Similarly little bird knows that with few drops of water fire will not extinguished but it is his responsibility to contribute whatever it can in anyway with his capability.
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better. - Robert F. Kennedy
One more practical example from our time: The leader of the revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (ra), was questioned by the media personnel in Paris, at the time when the climax of the scenario was set in, whether he thought the revolution would be successful or not. He replied, "I don't know." And the whole world was taken by astonishment. Such a great leader and such a simple answer. So he went onto say that he was not doing what he was doing, for the sake of achieving a result or success. It was just he felt that it is his duty and responsibility to do something for his nation. He went onto explain that when Allah (SWT) will question him of what he had done when everyone was wrong, then atleast he could reply that he put in his best efforts in his full capacity to make a difference.
It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

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