Monday, March 31, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 997

Ayahs of the Day:
And the trumpet will be sounded, and those in the heavens and those on earth will faint, excepting whoever God will; then it will be sounded again, and now they will be standing, expectant. And the earth will shine with the light of its Lord, and the Record will be set out, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought, and judgment among them will be made, according to truth, so they will not be treated unjustly. And every soul will be recompensed for what it did; and God knows best what they do. [39: 68,69,70]

Hadith of the Day:
Pride is rejecting the truth and showing disdain for the people. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
No one attains true freedom as long as he remains under the influence of the slightest portion of his ego. [Shaykh Abu Madyan]

Guidance of the Day:
Learning to see God in all requires effort, creativity, courage, and love. Our old thought patterns of lack and failure will kick and scream, and they will find the subtlest and craftiest ways to retain their hold on our consciousness, for, in truth, their very life is being threatened. And that is the very best thing that could happen to us, for their life is founded on erroneous thinking and illusion.

To break out of this old way of thinking, we must at first make a determined effort to deny the ranting and raving of our old mind which tells us that something is wrong. When negative thoughts assert themselves, we must challenge them with the light of Love and dare to live the truth of goodness. Many people believe that it is courageous to live through a negative life. To live a life dedicated to happiness, freedom and forgiveness is the most courageous of all. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The love we give is always received, on some level of consciousness, and it is only our ego that tells us that the other person needs to respond in some particular way or else the relationship cannot be healed. It only takes one, and you have the power within you to heal any relationship in your life. Healing a relationship is a singular choice, and each one of us really can choose once again.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....34

1. Three things are the character of the friends of Allah-----Being at peace in one's heart towards others; A generous nature; Thinking the best of Allah's slaves.

2. Be close friends with the steadfast and submissive.

3. Do not annoy back those who annoy you, nor enter into what does not concern you.

4. Be occupied with your own faults, and never disclose a secret what should remain confidential.

5. Bear with the annoyance of those who show ignorance and forgive those who wrong you.

6. Be patient with adversities, little of imposition on others, but great in help to them.

7. Let your speech be wisdom and your looking reflection.

8. Put all your pride away. Always find a gentle word to say......We shouldn't be full of ourselves when we should be full of humanity.

9. Efforts not results count in the Sight of Allah. It is the mercy of Allah that He does not demand results. He is pleased if He finds us making our best efforts.

10. Knowledge calls for practice, if practice does not follow, knowledge goes away or becomes a burden. Real knowledge must bear fruit and the fruit of knowledge is practice, otherwise it is useless, harmful knowledge.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 996

Ayah of the Day:
They have not truly assessed the measure of God, in whose grip the whole earth will be on the Day of Resurrection, and in whose right hand the heavens will be folded: glorious is God, transcendent beyond any association they make. [39: 67]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever defends the flesh of his brother in his absence has a right upon Allah to rescue him from the fire. [Ahmad]

Wise Quote of the Day:
To receive a gift of spiritual love, we have "to know, to find, and to be." You cannot find a thing when you don't know what you are looking for, and you cannot find it if you don't know the way. We cannot be that thing if we do not leave ourselves behind. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
Abundance is not something that we create, but that we accept. God's infinite abundance is above us, waiting to flow down, and we have the space to hold it all. At the meeting point, at that skinny little juncture of the upper and lower vessels, in our mind. It regulates how much can come through. If our mind is small, tight, and fearful, a few meager grains will flow through. If the mind is open, free, and expansive, all of God's riches can pour through. We receive as much as we let in.

Real positive thinking means learning to look at all of life from a positive view point. It does not mean just money, gaining health, and finding the right spouse (although these are all valuable demonstrations). Real positivity means seeing in the blessedness in everything. It requires a complete revision of the way we look at life. It means tearing down our judgments and opinions of what is good and what is bad, and what is right and what is wrong. It means owning up to the truth that there is not one thing that exists, or one event that occurs that is not blessed by the Light of God. Simply, it means being willing to give up our mortal limited opinions. When we let go of these binding concepts, we are initiated into a new level of evolution: the realm of God consciousness. This simply means that we see all as from God and all as Good. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....33

1. Do not fall into the delusion that you will always remain strong, youthful, and wealthy.

2. Do not fall into the delusion that you will stop sinning after committing a sin a few times.

3. Do not delude yourself into thinking that your children will attend to you without your having to looked after your own parents.

4. Never form an opinion about someone just from the outward appearance.

5. Just like stagnant, standing water becomes a breeding ground for filth, an empty and carefree mind becomes a hive for useless and scorn thoughts.

6. Time for love is very short in this world, where do people find time to fill it with so much hate?

7. Hatred is like an acid. It does more harm to the container in which it is stored than to the object on which it is poured?

8. Evil can have no beginning, but from pride, nor an end but from humbleness.

9. Whoever maintains respect for what Allah honors, his own respect is upheld.

10. Whoever sees Allah's blessings as great----gives thanks for them, and whoever gives thanks, has necessitated their increase from the Bestower of blessings, by virtue of His true promise.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 995

Ayahs of the Day:
And on the Day of Resurrection you will see those who lied against God; their faces will be blackened. Is there not a place in hell for the self-important? And God will deliver the conscientious, setting them free in their place of refuge, where no ill will touch them, and they will not grieve. God is the creator of everything, and God is in charge of everything. The keys of the heavens and the earth belong to God, and those who deny the signs of God are the ones who are the losers. [39: 60 to 63]

Hadith of the Day:
No man helps a Muslim at a time when his honor is being belittled or his rights are violated except that Allah will help him in a place in which he loves to have His help. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Praising the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, should come from loving him, and loving him should entail desiring what he desired, which was nothing other than to follow and obey Allah. [Aftab Ahmad Malik]

Guidance of the Day:
How we use our mind is crucial to our finding and getting what we want out of life, and giving what we want to it. Success, love, and abundance are not given to a privileged few by the whim of a capricious God. Those who enjoy happiness do so because they earned it with their thoughts. They have the faith that God is working for their good, and that every moment of life is a precious gift. By so thinking, they open the door to goodness and success. The foundation of positive thinking is this truth.

To think is to create. If we want to make it in life, we need to start with our goals clearly in mind; we need to decide what it is that we want, and then get a sharp mental picture of it. Then we must hold steadfast to our goal until it is realized. Refuse to be distracted by the thoughts of failure. We cannot allow temporary setbacks to be a cause for disappointment. God often has a bigger plan working for us than we have for our little selves. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
"ME" is always at the bottom of all sin. One little word M-E. It may spell drink, lust, pride, covetousness, self-will; but it is some form of "me." One can be a miser a savage and be selfish but not a human. We have one foot in heaven and the other on the banana peel of self-interest.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....32

1. A coincidence is a small miracle where God prefers to remain anonymous. God arranges all things with precision in the lives of those dedicated to doing His will.

2. Knowing and not doing are equal to not knowing at all. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.

3. God plus one is always a majority! If God be for us, who can be against us? God knows more about how to help us than we know ourselves.

4. Most of us growl about things that really aren't important, only uncomfortable or irritating. Let's focus on what really matters to making a difference in the lives of others.

5. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

6. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. When we are willing to resist evil we take away an opportunity from the devil.

7. Our children are like mirrors-----they reflect our attitudes in life. What we do today is what we will see our children do tomorrow.

8. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package.

9. Everyone has patience------successful people learn to use it.

10. Hate and fear destroy life and keep us holding on to pain. Instead use the pain in your life to create something meaningful.

Friday, March 21, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 994

Ayahs of the Day:
"And follow the best of what has been revealed to you from your Lord, before there comes to you the agony, suddenly, while you are unawares. Lest a soul might say, 'Ah, me! Woe is me for my neglect of my duty to God, for I was indeed a scorner!' Or lest one say, 'If only god had guided me, I would have been conscientious!' Or lest one say, on seeing the penalty, 'Had I but another chance, I would be one of the virtuous!' [39: 55 to 58]

Hadith of the Day:
No Muslim servant (of Allah) prays for his brother behind his back except that an angel say, "And for you the same." [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The believer tries to find excuses for others, while the hypocrite looks out for mistakes. [Ibn al Mubarak]

Guidance of the Day:
To think positive is to thing with God, This must be true because God is positive and God can do anything. When we think with God, we can do anything. The key to success in life is to know without doubt that God is our Guardian who wants only the best for us. All failure stems from the mistaken thought that we do not deserve the best that life has to offer. We were created to be magnificent.

Positive thinking is an absolute prerequisite for all success in life. We've all got to believe in ourselves, our families, our friends, and our business. We have got to know the rightness of our hopes, our aspirations, and our dreams. God is looking for people who will trust in the dreams He gives to us. There are so few people who are willing to take the aspiration that God breathes into them and hold tenaciously to it until the possibility becomes a reality. The world is numb to imagination, to creativity, to life. The neon lights of the cities block our view of the stars. The world has settled for second best, and in so bargaining has settled for nothing. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Hope is the Divine motivator. Hope is the thing with feathers----that perches in the soul----and sings the tune without the words-----and never stops----at all. Hope restores us, it keeps us busy and prevents us from becoming lazy. If we had no hope we would have no reason to go on. What you hope for doesn't matter, but rather the essence of hope itself. Allow the bird of hope to perch on a branch of the tree of life and never stop singing.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....31

1. Any time you find yourself getting impatient with anyone, think about how long God has been dealing with you on some issues.

2. See that no one pays back evil with evil, but always try to do good to each other and to everyone else.

3. Be a good listener. Listening is more important than talking in virtually every profession. It is in listening that we learn to say.

4. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none. Ask God to help you see your faults and correct the faults you see.

5. You may not be able to move mountains in your life----but God can.

6. Obedience and forgiveness are the keys to a clear conscience. Restful sleep is a direct result of a clear conscience.

7. When anger rises, think of consequences. Pause and ask God to provide His alternative-----peace.

8. He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

9. A wise person doesn't stop learning from as many sources as possible. By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

10. Pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His anwers. If you do this you will experience God's peace.....His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 993

Ayahs of the Day:
Don't they know God expands one's provision at will, and imposes limits? Surely there are signs in that for people who believe. Say, "O My devotees who have transgressed against their own souls! Do not despair of God's mercy, for God forgives all sins! Indeed God is the epitome of forgiveness and mercy! And turn to your Lord, and surrender thereunto, before the torment comes upon you, after which you will not be helped. [39: 52,53,54]

Hadith of the Day:
No man loves another for the sake of God without his Lord honoring him. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Faith is strengthened by thanksgiving for graces, endurance under trial, and contentment with the Divine decree. [Shaykh Abul Hasan al Shadhili]

Guidance of the Day:
Suffering is born of wrong thinking. The root of pain is error in perception. There can be no error in Truth, only errors in the perception of Truth. If you yearn to end human suffering, know, then, what is Real, for this Knowledge is the only source of invincible faith.

To see the world rightly, you must look from the viewpoint of immortality. This is the only perspective that can bring meaning to a meaningless life. Thoughts of mortality are the only veils that can shield the Truth from view. The Real is your only salvation. Nothing other than the Real can ever bring you the Peace that you seek. Acknowledge God, and welcome your self. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Family means sharing inadequacies, imperfections and feelings with each other and still loving each other. Human beings have the rare capacity to connect with one another, against all odds.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....30

1. People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do. For the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.

2. People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing. Anger rarely solves a problem. Usually, it just makes things worse.

3. A wise man restrains his anger and overlooks insults. This is to his credit.

4. The next time you feel like complaining, remember that your garbage disposal probably eats better than thirty percent of the people in the world.

5. Being at peace with yourself is a direct result of finding peace with God. Ask God to give you His peace in your work, there is no substitute for His grace.

6. A wise man's heart guides his mouth. Be careful of your thoughts, they may become words at any moment.

7. When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened to us.

8. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

9. Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Conquer yourself rather than the world.

10. You need to keep on patiently doing God's will if you want Him to do for you all that He has promised.

Monday, March 17, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 992

Ayahs of the Day:
When trouble afflicts man, he calls on Us; then when We favor him with a blessing from Us, he says, "This has been given to me on account of science alone." But it is a trial, though most of them do not know. Those before them had said this already, but what they used to do was of no profit to them. So the ills of what they did fell upon them. And the wrongdoers among those present will be overtaken by the ills of what they have done, and they cannot prevent it. [39: 49,50,51]

Hadith of the Day:
It is not allowed for a man to boycott his brother for more than three nights. The best among them is the one who is first to offer the greetings. [Bukhari & Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Seek for sweetness in three things---------in ritual prayers, in the invocation, and in reciting the Qur'an. [Hasan bin Ali]

Guidance of the Day:
We can stay out of trouble, and in the light, by thinking with our heart. I am not speaking of the emotions, but of the wisdom of the soul. Our heart will never lead us astray, or slay our perception of the Real. The heart cannot be misled, because it does not confuse facts with wisdom. It does not doubt because it lives in God.

In you heart is etched the Truth of Existence. Thoughts that lead you away from that Truth are but delusion. We encourage you to use your faculty of discrimination. Be not afraid to challenge the illusions that you have been taught. The Truth shall never fail to be revealed to you, for ignorance cannot stand the scrutiny of inspection. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
I am not bound to win, but
I am bound to be true.
I am not bound to succeed, but
I am bound to live up to what light I have.

Pearls of Wisdom....29

1. If you stop learning, you stop growing. Keep learning----God always has more to teach.

2. A happy heart is a good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

3. Swallowing angry words before you say them is better than having to eat them afterwards.

4. Rumors and gossip are equally impossible to retrieve.

5. What you say about a person has far-reaching, ripple effects. Make certain that what you say is not only true, but it needs saying.

6. The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

7. Hard times, crises, and troubles come to all of us. It's not the nature of the crisis but how we choose to respond to it that matters most.

8. Those who live in faith and contentment will have the faith and inner peace required to weather any storm.

9. Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.

10. Sometimes we are so busy adding up our troubles that we forget to count our blessings.

Friday, March 14, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 991

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, O God, creator of the heavens and the earth, knower of the hidden and the evident, You will judge between Your servants regarding that wherein they had differed." If those who have done wrong had everything on earth, and its like besides, they would use it to redeem themselves from the ill of the agony of the day of resurrection; but there will appear to them from God what they had never expected. [39: 46,47]

Hadith of the Day:
There is no people among which an evil is committed and they have the ability to change that but they do not change it except that Allah will soon afflict them with a punishment that will afflict all of them. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Those who are the elect of Adam's children breathe the breath of "We have wronged ourselves." Display your need for God------do not argue like the impudent and accursed Iblis. [Mawlana Rumi]

Guidance of the Day:
It is true that a little knowledge can be worse than none at all. Our mind can be our best friend, but, uncontrolled, it can work against our best interests. Our mind can confuse us to the point where actions bear no relation to reason. We do things for the wrong reasons, and we are not even aware of what we are doing or why we are doing them.

The rational mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. We must use the mind, instead of giving it free rein to run wild. The thinking mind helps us to organize our world and to create technology that makes our lives easier and safer. If we do not control the mind, however, it will team up with the mouth and the tongue, and together they will get us into trouble. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Some die without having really lived, while others continue to live, in spite of the fact that they have died. We are here today and gone tomorrow. When death is imminent, we open our hearts quickly and wide. How much more love there would be if we didn't wait for death to release our reserves!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....28

1. Do not just walk where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. You are pust here for a purpose, and you must find it.

2. Failure in people is caused more by lack of determination than lack in talent.

3. The greatest possession you have is the twenty-four hours directly in front of you. When you make God your most important priority, everything else falls into place.

4. Little is accomplished by procrastination or complaining. Purpose that your efforts will make a lasting contribution to the world of tomorrow.

5. The heart is happiest when it beats for others. Those who aren't sowing, aren't growing.

6. Real friends are those who, when you've made a fool of yourself, don't think you've done a permanent job.

7. Be quick to recognize that some mistakes are not worth mentioning and some errors are not matters of eternal importance.

8. Those who are quick to forgive others tend to be those who are forgiven quickly. And we all must admit it's nice to be on the forgiven side of a mistake.

9. Our children are like mirrors-----they reflect our attitude in life.

10. A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience. Most people know the right thing to do. Be among the ones who actually have the courage to do it.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 990

Ayahs of the Day:
God takes souls at their death, or in their sleep if they aren't dead, keeping those sentence to death, and sending the rest to a definite term. Surely there are signs in that for people who reflect. Do they take to intercessors other than God? Say, "Even though they have no power over anything, and no intelligence?!" [39: 42,43]

Hadith of the Day:
A believer sees his sins as if he is at the foot of a mountain and he fears that they will fall upon him. The evil-doer views his sins like a fly that lands on his nose that he just swats at. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Love of the saints is the proof of religion and religiosity. [Abdul Hakeem Murad]

Guidance of the Day:
How many things have you worried about that never came to pass? And if they did come to pass, were they as horrible as you imagined them to be? Probably not. One man actually kept track of all that he worried about. He discovered that of all his worries, 92 percent of them never came to pass, and of the 8 percent that did, he was somehow given the strength and ability to deal with them successfully. Our worries are paper tires.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself. The experience of fear is usually more debilitating than the event that we fear. A coward dies a thousand deaths, a hero only one. Fear is always the result of the absence of the awareness of Truth. When we know and feel the Truth, it is impossible to hold fear. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Is there anything more to life than just being alive---------eating, sleeping, working and having children? Sooner or later we will come face to face with the questions, what am I supposed to do with my life? How shall I live so that my life will mean something more than a brief flash of biological existence soon to disappear for ever.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....27

1. Don't ask God for what you think is good: ask Him for what He thinks is good for you.

2. The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

3. Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

4. Failure isn't falling down. It's staying down. For a just man falls seventy times and rises up again. Consider failure only as an opportunity to regroup and strengthen yourself.

5. Be a giver. Joy will be the result, not only to those to whom you give, but also in your own heart.

6. What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. They are but trifles to be sure, but scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

7. What we "see" has more to do with inner vision than physical eyesight. Choose to see those things that bring happiness to your heart.

8. Time is more valuable than money because time is irreplaceable. Ask God, and He will help you to invest your time wisely.

9. Others can stop you temporarily; you are the only one who can do it permanently. Only God can transform inner weakness into strength. Ask Him to make you a better person today.

10. God never asks about our ability or our inability------just our availability. If we willingly yield our lives to God-----then we are in the best position to win life's race. People who make themselves available to God are those who are used by God.

Monday, March 10, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 989

Ayahs of the Day:
Say, "O my people! Work according to your ability; indeed, I am at work. And you will know who it is to whom there comes a disgracing punishment and upon whom alights an abiding agony." For We have sent you the Book for mankind, according to truth. So whoever accepts guidance does so to the benefit of his own soul, and whoever strays only strays to the detriment of his own soul. And you are not the one to dispose of their affairs. [39: 39,40,41]

Hadith of the Day:
The one who loves for the sake of Allah, hates for the sake of Allah, gives for the sake of Allah and withholds for the sake of Allah has completed his faith. [Abu Dawud]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The duration of life is but one breath. Take care that you master it and that it does not master you. [Shaykh Abu Madyan]

Guidance of the Day:
It is of the utmost importance to be an ardent worker for the force of positivity. You bless your sisters and brothers by cultivating strong and loving thoughts about them. In so doing, you serve the transformation of their lives as well as your own.

Be peaceful in your work, and Peace shall find a home in you. That which is other than Truth cannot bind you, for you have been given dominion over the world. Share not the delusion of mortality. Cease to cling to ownership of illusions, and illusions shall cease to retain the image of binding you. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
The chance of getting divorced remains so high that it makes sense for all married couples----including those who are currently satisfied with their relationship------to put extra effort into their marriage to keep them strong.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....26

1. Carve your name on hearts and not on Marble.

2. Each day we must ask God to provide for us the wisdom to know where and how to apply ourselves.

3. Work hard so God can say to you, "Well done." Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work.

4. If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. Don't wait. Jump into the challenge of the new course with enthusiasm.

5. There never was a person who did anything worth doing that did not receive more than he gave. Whatever you give always comes back in the form of a rich reward.

6. It's good to be a Muslim and know it, but it's better to be Muslim and show it!

7. The only preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today. What you decide today will become who you are tomorrow.

8. Real success is doing what we were created to do---developing and using all of the talents and abilities we have been given, not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of others.

9. Real success is the product of good decisions made each day----the decision to be God's person, decisions to live in moral excellence, and to love others and do good to them.

10. Don't be afraid of pressure. Remember pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond. Trust God to use the pressure you are under today as a means of developing your endurance, building your patience, and perhaps even forcing you to reevaluate your priorities. Stress can be our teacher.

Friday, March 07, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 988

Ayahs of the Day:
Is not God enough for a devotee? Yet they try to intimidate you with something other than God. And whoever God leaves astray has therefore no guide. But whomever God guides, none can lead astray. Is not God a mighty avenger? [39: 36,37]

Hadith of the Day:
Nothing is weightier in the scales of a believer on the Day of Judgment than his good behavior. God treats with displeasure a person who is given to loose and vulgar talk. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
There is a mutually supportive and perfective relation between an individual's actions and his inner life. [Fethullan Gulen]

Guidance of the Day:
What you imagine to be your thoughts are merely echoes of the voice of the world, a voice which bears no relation to your true identity with light. Constantly meditate upon your true nature, and you will easily discern between that which is of Love and that which belongs to error.

This teaching is but an elementary training in separating yourself from that which you have imagined to be your own. Your growth is marked by freedom from the effects of misdirected musings of the mind. Be not dismayed at negative consequences of your past actions, for you are occasionally required to bear out the unfoldment of earlier thought patterns before the fruits of your present work make themselves visible. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Most of us never stop to consider our blessings; rather, we spend the day only thinking about our problems. Since you have to be alive to have problems, be grateful for the opportunity to have them. Appreciate life and accept the problems as part of life. Don't wait for a disaster to awaken you to the things you can be grateful for today.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....25

1. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior to be a surviror.

2. Anger, unforgiveness, and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

3. Choosing to have fun and laugh heartily at life's foibles may be one of the best choices one can make for health and genuine quality of life.

4. A merry heart does good like a medicine but a broken spirit dries the bones.

5. Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.

6. Wisdom is the wealth of the wise. The value of wisdom is far above rubies; nothing can be compared with it.

7. A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn't feel like it.

8. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best.

9. It takes courage to tell the truth. Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.

10. God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisedom to know the difference.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 987

Ayahs of the Day:
The one who brings truth, and the one who confirms it-------they are the conscientious. They will have whatever they wish in the presence of their Lord; that is the reward of those who do good, that God may pardon the worst of their deeds, and reward them for the best of what they used to do. [39: 33,34,35]

Hadith of the Day:
A believer never has his fill of good deeds until he ends up in Paradise. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
If we measure ourselves against the commands of God and to the life of the one whom He sent as His mercy, we will perhaps be able to see our sad condition. Then perhaps our devotion, our worship, will be a little more than sincere and true. [Imam al Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
We are constantly creating and re-creating one another through our thoughts. This can be a vital key to improving troubled relationships. Relationships suffer when we hold negative pictures of each other. If you want to bring a difficult relationship into the light of love, make up your mind to change your image of who both of you are.

Realize that the relationship will continue in a rut and you will tend to live out each other's negative expectations until one of you sees both of you as Godly. You do not have to wait for the other person to change; you have the power to change the relationship for both of you. As soon as you let go of your ideas of limitations about the other person or yourself, you set both of you free, and the relationship is likely to improve. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it------would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....24

1. Aim for perfection. Can you become the person you truly LIKE to be? It's not impossible. Shoot for the moon, even if you miss it, you land among the stars.

2. We are wise when we set our sights on what God tells us to do, and then do it with all of our might, leaving all the consequences to Him.

3. No plan is worth the paper it is printed on unless it starts you doing something. Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

4. Your children need your presence more than your presents. Your presence is the best present for them.

5. The best bridge between hope and despair is often a good night's sleep. We must trust God as the only One who truly can turn a day of disaster into a dawning of hope.

6. We truly can't tell a catastrophe from a cause for celebration. God asks us to trust Him in each circumstance as it rises, and to walk out each day with faith, believing that God can and will work all things for our eternal benefit.

7. Peace makers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. Those who seek peace and use peaceful means to reach it----are generally the winners in the long run.

8. Be very careful how you live----not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

9. What you see depends mainly on what you look for.

10 Today, respond to everything you experience with joy and delight. A joyful response to life is one of the greatest witnesses you can have.

Monday, March 03, 2008

LESSON OF THE DAY 986

Ayahs of the Day:
We have set forth in this Recital every ideal for human kind, that they may take heed; a Recital in Arabic, free from distortion, that they may be aware. God has set forth a parable, of a man over whom a plurality of partners are wrangling, and a man secure in service to one man: are the two equal on comparison? Praise be to God. But most of them do not know. The fact is you are going to die, and they too are going to die, Then you will, on the day of resurrection, debate in the presence of your Lord. [39: 28 to 31]

Hadith of the Day:
The believer's shade on the Day of Resurrection will be the charity he or she has given. [Tirmidhi]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Be not like those who get puffed up with pride in worldly good, and scorn the Truth. Enjoy the good things of life, but render thanks to Allah and obey His Law. [Abdullah Yusuf Ali]

Guidance of the Day:
Finding peace amid chaos is more valuable for our growth-----and service------than finding quiet amid quiet. Resist not evil, but overcome evil with good. Light is always more powerful than darkness. Evil, when confronted with love and positivity, flees like a thief in the night.

Our own awareness of God is always more powerful than anything in the world. Because our thoughts and our awareness are powerful, we have a responsibility to the people, and the world around us. Just as we would not want anyone to empty a trash can of negative upon us, we must take care not to disturb others with our thoughts. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
Truth is man's proper good, and the only immortal thing was given to our immortality to use. Keep one thing forever in view-----the truth; and if you do this, though it may seem to lead you away from the opinion of men, it will assuredly conduct you to the throne of God.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Pearls of Wisdom....23

1. Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.

2. Life is a progress, and not a station. One of life's greatest lessons is that we are all "works in progress." God expects us to grow through the decisions we make, the challenges we undertake, and the effort we put in.

3. Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap.

4. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules the spirit than the one that rules a city.

5. The cure of a crime is not in the electric chair, but in the high chair. Teach a child to choose the right path, and when he is older he will remain upon it.

5. You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds.

6. Anger is never without a reason but seldom a good one. An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.

7. The results of angry exprssions are more often tragic than triumphant. We are wise to turn down the temperature of our anger before expressing our opinion.

8. Anger may be justified, but lashing out in anger at someone is not justifiable.

9. Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere. Concern for someone is a sign of love, but worry is a sign of doubt and fear. We each must learn the difference.

10. No man knows his true character until he is faced with problems and difficulties. Consider it all joy, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.