As Salaamu 'alaykum and peace to all,
Lesson Some Birds in Washington DC Taught Me Today! A motivational story about being in high alert and when size doesn't matter.
That day, me and my dearest friend decided to spend sometime at one of the memorial parks in Washington DC. Despite the cold and chilly morning, both of us decided to brave it all in the name wanting to have some fun time together.
What can I say, perhaps the frosty wind did freeze our brain for a bit!
When we got there, we knew we had decided on the right thing. The beautiful scenery of autumn made it worth it all, mashaAllaah.
The whole landscape was breathtaking, subhanAllaah. The yellow, brown and red had made up very brightly colored trees which brought smiles to my face, the fallen leaves that had blanketed the garden made me feel like lying on the grass all day and the flocks of birds flying gracefully above me, had brought nothing less than joy, peace and serenity to my heart, subhanAllaah.
After walking and snapping pictures for almost 2 hours, we decided to take a KITKAT break at a refreshment place and get ourselves some hot cocoa and a quick bite of a sandwich.
I have to tell you, a hot cocoa on a cold day is simply one of Allaah’s greatest blessings in life, subhanAllaah!
And it reminded me of the words of Allaah,
Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny? (Verse 13: Surah 55 Ar-Rahmân)
I know that in my heart, the answer will be nothing my Lord, none of the blessings of Yours that can be denied…SubhanAllaah… I am Your servant who is most thankful for every single thing that You have given me…starting from the very sip of hot cocoa…
Then, I began noticing that some birds began to come close to the bench we were sitting. SubhanAllaah, I could not believe how ‘friendly’ these birds actually are.
This was then we started to throw bits and pieces of bread crumbs towards the birds. And within split seconds, the birds were pouncing on those crumbs. Those very cute movements delighted us so much that we started to throw more and more crumbs for the birds, forgetting our own grumbling tummies!
As my friend threw some bread crumbs to the birds, I suddenly realized that the birds had just taught me some valuable lessons in life, subhanAllaah.
One of the things that these beautiful birds made me realized was that the bread crumbs we threw to the birds are not proportion to the number of birds around us, so, naturally there were some birds who did get to eat and some don’t, right?
And another thing is this- those birds are not of the same size- some are bigger, some average in size and some are rather small.
It was then I asked myself- logically, if I think about it, doesn’t it make sense that the bigger birds would always get the bread crumbs as compared to the smaller ones? Well, they are physically bigger!
It does sound logical, you agree?
Amazingly, that was not what happened.
In fact, I saw the all the birds regardless of sizes had equal chance to get the bread crumbs. Yup, it is absolutely remarkable that the size of the birds do not determine at all whether or not they are able to get the piece of the bread!
Seriously, there was only one criterion that determines the ‘successes' of these birds in getting ‘a piece of the pie’.
It was their readiness and alertness to pounce and jump into the place where we throw the crumbs.
They reminded me of the quote from Khalil Gibran I had in my first book- Life is an Open Secret- Think About It when he said,
‘Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow’
Yup, isn’t that what these birds represented to me? Only the birds that are on high alert and know what they want and willing to do what it takes to get what they want (and not the ones who are not sure whether they want the bread crumbs or otherwise) - regardless of their sizes would get to the bread crumbs!
SubhanAllaah!
Indeed, these words of Allaah brings a new meaning to me now,
So those who believe (in the Oneness of Allâh Islâmic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, for them is forgiveness and Rizqûn Karîm (generous provision) (Surah Surah Al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage : Verse 50)
And what is the righteous deeds here, my brothers and sisters?
Well, it is working our way in the halal way, using the strengths that Allaah has given us to strive for excellence in everything that we do, just like the birds!
What do you think my friends? Have the birds taught us a valuable lesson today?
Absolutely and definitely!
Alhamdulillaah….
Sis Zabrina also known as Zabrina A. Bakar, is a Life Storyteller, motivational and inspirational writer and speaker; and author and creator of Islamic motivational book Life Open Secret book series http://wwww.LifeOpenSecret.com. She maintains an active blog at http://www.WisdomThruWords.blogspot.com. and social networking platform a Web 2.0 at http://www.LifeStoryteller.ning.com
Copyright © Sis Zabrina 2008
Sis Zabrina
Life Storyteller
Author of Life is an Open Secret Islamic Motivational Book Series:
Life is an Open Secret- Think about It
Life is an Open Secret- You, Me and We
Hidup Bukan Rahsia http://www.lifeopensecret.com
-18 Inspirational Stories from Ordinary life experiences-
Now blogging at http://www.wisdomthruwords.blogspot.com
~ Life Storyteller Blog: Your Source for Islamic Motivational and Inspirational Stories~
Tags : motivational stories, islamic stories, inspirational stories, spiritual stories, storyteller, muslim, islam, life is an open secret, motivational book, motivational quotes, short stories
Sis Zabrina, also known as Zabrina A. Bakar, is a Life Storyteller, motivational and inspirational writer and speaker; and author of Islamic motivational book series Life is an Open Secret http://www.lifeopensecret.com She maintains an active blog at http://www.wisdomthruwords.blogspot.com
and her personal Social Networking Platform http://www.LifeStoryteller.ning.com
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