What We Already Have

Recently, a sister jokingly told me that she had stopped counting calories and restricting junk food from her diet because food was her only joy in life.

I guess at some point many of us will think that way about something - even if not food. In my case it was indeed food and I had literally said the exact same thing to myself the year before…. Within months I had gradually gained 30 pounds!

Then I realized that one of my joys in life was being 30 pounds lighter!

At some level we all know that we have more than we acknowledge. How unfair we are to our ownselves when we fail to reflect on what we have and trust that Allah knows best.

In this verse, I find it profound that Allah says “from”, not “all.” It is as if we can expect to not have it all. And what an opportunity that is to exercise patience IN gratitude.

سَأَلْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ ۗ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَظَلُومٌۭ كَفَّارٌۭ ٣٤

And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favor [i.e., blessings] of Allāh, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful.

Chapter 14 | Verse 34