LESSON OF THE DAY 581

Ayahs of the Day:
If We wished, We would take away what We have revealed to you by inspiration; then you would not find yourself an agent against Us in this, except as a mercy from your Lord, whose generosity to you is immense. [17: 86,87]

Hadith of the Day:
A person has done enough wrong in his life if he simply repeats everything he hears. [Muslim]

Wise Quote of the Day:
One is brought near to the intimate knowledge of Allah, through silence. [Sulaiman Darami]

Guidance of the Day:
Achieving Harmony: When a pianist learns a new piece of music, he or she does not sit down and instantly play it perfectly. A pianist often needs to practice each hand's work separately to learn the feel, to learn the sound. One hand picks out a part until there is rhythm and ease in playing what is difficult. Then, the musician practices with the other hand, picking through the notes, one by one, until that hand learns its task. When each hand has learned its part--the sound, the feel, the rhythm, the tones--then both hands can play together. During the time of practice, the music may not sound like much. It may sound disconnected, not particularly beautiful. But when both hands are ready to play together, music is created--a whole piece comes together in harmony and beauty.

It may feel like we spend months, even years, practicing individual, seemingly disconnected behaviors in the separate parts of our life. One part at a time, we practice our new music note by note: We work on our relationship with our Higher Power--our spirituality. We work on feelings. On beliefs. On behaviors. Letting go of the old, acquiring the new. We work and work and work. We practice. We struggle through. We go from one extreme to the other, and sometimes back through the course again. We make a little progress, go backward, and then go forward again. It may seem disconnected. It may not sound like a harmonious, beautiful piece of music--just isolated notes.

Then one day, something happens. We become ready to play with both hands, to put the music together. What we have been working toward, note by note, becomes a song. The song is a whole life, a complete life, a life in harmony. The music will come together in our life if we keep practicing the parts. [The Language of Letting Go]

Food for Thought:
Three things in human life are important: The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.