وان ادري لعله فتنة لكم ومتاع الى حين

وَإِنْ أَدْرِى لَعَلَّهُۥ فِتْنَةٌ لَّكُمْ وَمَتَـٰعٌ إِلَىٰ حِينٍ

Lately I've been thinking about the topic of blessings. Looking at what's happening around the world: Poverty, genocide, starvation, illness, and so on, I look around myself, I am well-protected, I have enough to eat, drink, I can take care of myself and I am healthy, Alhamdulillah. Allah chose our circumstances in life, meaning, those who live very comfortably have been given their blessings from Allah because He chooses to give to whoever He wills. But what we don't remember is that this state is also a test. Just because we have it all, will we forget Him? In these blessings, it is possible to forget our purpose and this may lead to our downfall. 

We need to ask ourselves: Why do I have all these things that I have? 
The health, the time, the family, our mind, our heart, we're meant to use them and not waste them. In a typical day, one would spend a portion of their day at work or school, a portion taking care of their hygiene, a portion praying, and a portion sleeping. Of course, this routine differs from person to person. But in general, how much time do we waste? And everyone says they have no time but I believe that people make time for what is important to them.

 The biggest culprit of time waste is the phone. The people before us who never had smartphones, or tv's, or gaming consoles, gave their time to Allah swt, they learnt things, they memorised the Quran, they invested their time in what truly matters. What if we tried that? How amazing would it be to try and live like that?

It is all a trial from Allah. The blessings are a trial too, which we often forget. We bathe in the luxury of material things, that we forget that we are also being tested, just like the people who are suffering in the world but our test is different. 

My Allah make us people who strive to be better, who use our blessings in a way that please Him and not anger Him. Ameen.

Thank you for the reminder 'the harder the test, the easier will be the marking'. 
I agree, we pull out our phones to do something beneficial but easily get swept away into other things, that is the hard part. May Allah make it easy. 

Reflections on Surah Al-Anbiya Ayah 111