LESSON OF THE DAY 1032

Ayah of the Day:
God has prescribed for you what God enjoined on Noah, by which We inspired you, and what We enjoined on Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, that you be steadfast in faith and not be disunited in it. What you call them to is too much for idolaters. God chooses for God whomever God wants, and guides to the divine whoever turns to God. [42: 13]

Hadith of the Day:
Allah gives respite to one who commits dhulm, but when He seizes him, He never releases him. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
The one who knows reaches the level of the service of God, which is the highest level to which anyone can aspire in this world or the Hereafter. To teach is better than praying. Knowledge brings people together. Action depends on knowledge. Those who are blessed are inspired by it. Those who disobey God are punished by the lack of it. [Imam Birgivi]

Guidance of the Day:
To wear a "magic mask" of loving words and deeds is to act in accord with our real nature. Once we begin to reap the benefits of our given love, we discover that it is our goodness that was real all along, and negation an imposter. We are like an actor who has played his role for so long that he forgot who he was before he began to play. Before we got used to the world's norm of defensiveness, it was very natural for us to be innocent and happy. As children,we lived in a blissful state, shining our light and love on all, regardless of their age, sex, or color. This is why even the hardest person melts in the presence of an innocent child, for children awaken our memory of the purity within ourselves which we long to once again express.

By God's loving Grace, the purity was never lost------it just became veiled by a smoggy layer of erroneous beliefs that we could be something less than divine. Our happy surprise is that all of the ideals that we cherish-----love, wisdom, kindness, compassion, and beauty------we already are; we seek after them only because they are the original aspects of ourselves that we came into life to express. Our purposeful positivity is the key to that expression. [Cohen, The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore]

Food for Thought:
There is no situation that is not transformable. There is no person who is hopeless. There is no set of circumstances that cannot be turned about by ordinary human beings and their natural capacity for love of the deepest sort.