I was trying to think of something clever to say to open up
this article. But in the hopes of not causing misinterpretation or confusion,
I’ll give it to you straight: What you spend your MONEY, TIME, and ENERGY on says
a lot about YOU!!
I know, the formula seems simple enough. But if it’s so
simple, why do we spend so much time complaining about what we don’t have,
chasing what we think we need, and praying for what we want, yet our actions
don’t reflect the words that slush from our mouths.
There are a lot of people in this world who would love to be
rich. But, the truth is, if you were not born into a wealthy situation, it will
take endless lots of time, effort, and ingenuity to climb the staircase to
affluence. Do you have what it takes?
May women say they want a good man, but if you even slightly
believe in the laws of attraction, you know that you must step your game up to
be the best woman you can be and your good man will be attracted to you a like
a refrigerator magnet. Same to the brothers looking for a quality woman!
You see, it’s about investing. If you decide to invest most
of your time, energy and money in your children, you will most likely end up
with highly educated, well-rounded children who value those things of which you
invested: family and education. However, it will do of you no use to keep
hoping and praying for children who value these things if you invest all of
your time and energy trying to get rich or chasing the opposite sex.
And that brings me to perhaps the biggest part of this whole
expedition: SACRIFICE. Are you willing to sacrifice relationships, social-life and
sleep to achieve your goals? Then you must ask: are your sacrifices in vain? Are you sacrificing time with your children to have a
better social life? Are you sacrificing volunteering in the community so you
can shop ‘til you drop? Are you sacrificing your marriage to achieve wealth and
prosperity?
I’m not going to sit here and tell you what you should be
doing with your money, time and energy. But I will share this with you: one
night as I was hitting the books hard - Environmental Science – and boy I
was really studying hard, trying to get that A. Then it dawned on me, when was
the last time I devoting this must time and effort into worshipping Allah? Come
on now, like when was the last time I drank a 5-Hour Energy shot so I could
stay up reading Qur’an? Ummm… So why do I keep praying for Allah to give me
stronger iman (faith)? Why do I keep praying for His mercy?
But don’t stop praying, oh no, PLEASE KEEP PRAYING, keep meditating, and keep reflecting! The time is now to take a serious look at how we our spending our most
valuable assets: TIME + ENERGY + MONEY. Let’s get serious and be real
with ourselves: What do we really want out of life? What steps are we taking to
to make our dreams become reality?
**Let’s make better
investments in Ourselves, Our Families and Our Communities**
And ALLAh SWT says this in Surah Asr:
By the Time! Man is
surely in loss, except those who believed and did good works, and exhorted one
another to Truth, and exhorted one another to patience.
So I guess the real question is: What is your definition of success??? Maybe for Part II . . .
