patience & persistence

salaams all,

O you who believe! Seek help in patience and As-salat (the prayer). Truly, Allah is with As-Sabirun (the patient). (surah 2:153)

Sunday morning I was getting ready for sunday school, I volunteer there as administrative support and as a bonus, I get to learn to read the Quran in arabic, and I get a call from my friend who is a sunday school teacher there. She tells me how the kitchen is a mess and there is a man that she has never seen before sleeping in the womens room and she was very uncomfortable. now our masjid is tiny and the ummah here in this city is not very big, but insha'Allah that will change, but we have really been having trouble with everyone cleaning up our small place after iftar, so the past few sundays when we have arrived for sunday school there has been a tons of food on the counter and one time in particular the food had started to ferment and smelled horrible, may Allah reward the children and sisters that helped clean the mess up! So I get upset and rush over to see what's going on for myself, and yes there was food and dishes all over this little kitchen and the unknown brother sleeping in the sisters room. ok so now, i'm hot!! i just felt so defeated, like how come no one loves our masjid enough to keep it clean? when I told my husband about it, he said "don't get upset tell someone who is in charge" I told him "WE ARE IN CHARGE THAT IS OUR MASJID". Sometimes i don't feel like everyone in our community realizes that we are all responsible for the Masjid so we all need to do our part! but once I arrived we talked to a brother about the mess and I left to go get prizes and motivational items for the children (TOYS!!!) while I was driving I thought of what I read in the Quran that morning and all of the things that Allah has to say about being patient and that's when I realized I need to stop getting so upset and maybe try some patience and persistence with the brothers and sisters at the masjid. So when I get back to the masjid sunday school is going on now, the unknow sleepy brother had awaken from his beauty sleep and moved and the kicthen was spotless! Alhamdulilah!!! see how Allah works? and I was upset for nothing!

So I thought were else can I apply my new found way of thinking? with my children? but of course. how about with my husband? DEFINITELY (Allah knows that man can work my nerves but Alhamdulillah he's a good man :-) Being patience and persistent can be applied to every where in my life. So I have to decided to do just as Allah has instructed me to do and "seek help in patience and As-Salat(the prayer). Because after all, Allah (swt) is As-Sabur (the most patient) and if he can be patient with me (an sometimes I feel like I can be lost cause :-) who am I not to be patient at all?