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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Yousra Samir Imran

Good morning.

I’d like to share something that happened to me recently, that changed my perspective on my current situation juggling motherhood with other areas of my life. Lately, my husband and I have had little support beyond ourselves with childcare for our two-year-old son.

It was starting to really get me down that neither of us were getting a break. And for months I had watched my neighbour’s mother and mother-in-law through our window popping over every day to take care of her two-year-old son. I thought to myself how lucky she was to have this constant extra support.

One day I stopped to have a chat with my neighbour and she told me that she and her son were going to travel to Paris to visit her husband. It turned out he had been working abroad for months, leaving her and her toddler on their own – And I had no idea. It suddenly dawned on me that it was me who was lucky – my husband works from home and is available to support me with my son 24/7.

Sometimes we make assumptions that other people have it easier than us. But God always has a way of showing you that you have many blessings and that the grass isn’t always greener. In Islam, we are encouraged to not look at those who have it better than us, but rather to look at those who are not as fortunate so that we are grateful for our current circumstances.

So, I pray we all find it within ourselves to thank God the Most Generous, for the endless blessings He bestows upon us. Sometimes we don’t always recognise them.

Ameen.