Our Lives are continually in motion,

and on somedays we are ending something, on others we begin something anew. Some of us would rather things last forever never to end or to have to begin again. What we fail to internalize is that this is how God chose the world to work. He is the only one without beginning and without end.

This blog is one such venture, its a new beginning for me. Undoubtedly you also have some new beginnings that you’ll be venturing into and so I’d like to give you three of my starting points when beginning something new.

1. Do it for God

and once you’ve decided to do it for Him, get up and do it.

If you’re deciding whether to take a new job then also take a moment to give thanks to the One that enabled you with this new opportunity. If you’re about to start classes in your university or high school, remember who it is that blessed you with the ability to study, to focus, to learn and retain information. When you do things for the sake of God you will find a sweetness in that action that just isn’t found elsewhere, namely because you know you’re pleasing the One who woke you up this morning.

2. Do it with Perfection.

I recently wrote an article for my job and I focused on the Hadith of Gabriel. In it the Angel Gabriel asks the Prophet Muhammad what the word “Ihsan” is. To it he replies, “It is to worship God as though you see Him and if you can’t then to know that He sees you.” Can you imagine if you brought this type of ethic to your work life?

Imagine whenever you showed up to work and clocked in that you were aware that God was watching your every move? How would you work? Surely you wouldn’t be on Facebook the entire time. . . I hope.

3. Give thanks regularly.

This was the downfall of Satan. I was reading a verse in Surat al Insan (Mankind) in which God says that He guided some to the path of gratefulness and others to the path of ungratefulness. No doubt we want to be of the former.

An act of thankfulness actually causes God to increase you in the good. If you want more love in your marriage, thank God for the love that is there already. Want more money (don’t we all?) thank God for the money you already have. 

A simple act of refocusing your lens on Him will cause your new beginning to be one enriched with blessings. You’ll find sustenance in it that you never would have imagined, that’s the power of God. That’s the beauty of the Divine.

I can probably list off to you so many things that I did without first giving thanks to Him, some of them worked out, others didn’t. But it isn’t just about the success of the venture, it is about how I felt inside. When I stopped and gave Him thanks from the very beginning I felt infinitely better about what I was about to do. When I laid my head down on the ground and prayed, when I asked His guidance, I was able to start whatever it was with a sense of confidence.

So as I start this blog, and as you begin your own journey, lets be sure to start it with refocusing on God.

May He praised.

Bismillah.