^ T-shirt design from Threadless.com
Cleaning. I don’t enjoy the process but I love the result. There are so many other things we do that are like that. Exercising, studying, cooking (for some), and grooming - to name a few. I’ve noticed that most of the mundane tasks we take on in life are either unenjoyable with good results or enjoyable with bad after-effects.

I can sit in my room and sort through piles of papers and clothing sifting through memory after memory, sneezing from dust, getting overwhelmed at the amount of work before me, all the while hating the process wishing I wasn’t doing it. But afterwards? I feel like I can take on the world! (erm, okay maybe just the closet)..
Then take watching TV for hours or something, you might feel good enjoying a laugh and kicking back, but afterwards? You feel lazy, wishing you didn’t have to enter back into reality, wishing you hadn’t turned it on to begin with.

SubhanAllah, if you look to the prescribed acts of worship though, you’ll notice something sweet. Every single act of worship prescribed for us is something which is not only enjoyable, but also leaves you feeling good afterward. Sure there are hardships in worship such as struggling to maintain concentration in Salah, standing in prayer while your body wants to crumble to the floor, difficulty in memorizing and reading from the Qur’an, pangs of hunger during fasting, not to mention the numerous trials one undergoes in Hajj…

But what’s so beautiful is that while you’re doing those acts of worship, despite the hardship, you still love the fact that you’re doing it. And to top it all off, you’re, insha’Allah, riding high on Eman once you’re done too. You love the process and you love the result. Ladies and gentlemen that sounds like a win-win to me. What more reason to love and enjoy the prescribed acts of worship!

I mean, even though it can be hard and tiring, who would actually sit to read Qur’an or stand to pray extra prayers and think, “I wish I wasn’t doing this”?

I ask Allah to save us from that and to give us tranquility and success through our `Ebadah. Ameen