Sometimes life can seem really difficult, everywhere you turn its as if nothing is going your way. The motivation to move on with life diminishes...one just feels like giving up! Everything seems sad and depressing. Its at times like these that the Quran and words of Ahlul Bayt(s.a) help. One sermon from Nahjul Balagha that has really helped me at times is "Al-Khutba Al-Qasi'ah". I love the following excerpt from the sermon:
If Allah, the Glorified, had placed His sacred House and His great signs among plantations, streams, soft and level plains, plenty of trees, an abundance of fruits, a thick population, close habitats, golden wheat, lush gardens, green land, watered plains, thriving orchards and crowded streets, the amount of recompense would have decreased because of the lightness of the trial. If the foundation on which the House is borne and the stones with which it has been raised had been of green emerald and red rubies, and there had been brightness and effulgence, then this would have lessened the action of doubts in the breasts, would have dismissed the effect of Satan's activity from the hearts, and would have stopped the surging of misgivings in people. But Allah tries His creatures by means of different troubles, wants them to render worship through hardships and involves them in distresses, all in order to extract out vanity from their hearts, to settle down humbleness in their spirits and to make all this an open door for His favours and an easy means for His forgiveness (for their sins). Caution against rebellion and oppressiveness
