Life has the
ability to disappoint you. Sometimes you look forward to things, believing that
it will be wonderful, just to be reminded that it wasn't such a big deal in the
first place. This can apply to big things and small.
For a while I
wanted to buy the new Magnum Black Espresso ice-cream. The adverts of it made
it seem divine. The mouth-watering, rich ice-cream, with perfect coffee flavoured
swirls covered in intense dark chocolate almost made me drool. Who wouldn't be
attracted to such a pleasure? So
yesterday my sister decided to buy it for me (May Allah reward her), and I
finally got to taste it. I’d be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it, but after a
short while I came to this realization- MOST THINGS IN LIFE ARE HIGHLY
OVERRATED!
The ice-cream
was obviously not as enjoyable as it was made to look, and of course that
should be expected since advertising is a huge industry and those people really
do their jobs well. But this is a reminder to us all, the things of this world
are all like that. It provides the promise of something wonderful, just for you
to come to learn that in fact, it’s not that great after all.
Let’s look at
bigger things, because deriving life lessons from a simple ice-cream may seem
silly to some people.
What about
something like marriage? We look forward to getting married with a firm belief
that it will be perfect. We dream of having the best spouse and a life that
will make others long to be us. Only to find that it’s more work than fun and
the dream does not match the reality at all. Same thing with having children.
It’s a pleasure and a blessing, but it’s no walk in the park and parents will
tell you that their concerns, worries and work never end.
The same can
apply to almost anything in life, anything material that is. The promises of
joy when it comes to things in this world will always be overrated, but I think
it has to be that way. How can we enjoy everlasting Paradise if we get
satisfaction in this temporary world? How can we understand truth without first
having lived through the illusion? This world is merely a preparation, and this
means that everything in it is flawed, and so of course when we expect
perfection from things in this imperfect world then we will end up feeling disappointed
and perhaps even cheated.
But while
most things in life are overrated, we can expect there to be the opposite of
this and so Inshaa-Allah we will find that things of the hereafter will not be
overrated at all. Yes, I know that I have not actually experienced the
hereafter, but I have the promise of my Creator and that means that the
descriptions of Paradise is not some truth laced with a whole load of illusion
(as is the case in this world). When Allah Almighty tells us something, then we
can be assured that it is pure and absolute truth, and so things will be
exactly how they have been described to be. No misleading advertising, no
glamorous ploys, no emotional manipulation, just the plain down truth, and we
are told something to the effect that our expectations of Jannah (Paradise)
will never be accurate, it will always be surpassed because we do not have the
ability to comprehend things of the Hereafter. So Inshaa-Allah what we expect
from Jannah will be much, much better than our expectations, and obviously then
“overrated” will not even feature.
The lesson in short:
Things of this world
will always continue to disappoint us but things of the Hereafter will be the opposite.
MAY ALMIGHTY ALLAH GUIDE US, HELP US
AND ALLOW US TO EXPERIENCE THE TRUE PLEASURES OF JANNAH, INSHAA-ALLAH!
Image from here
