"Abi, When We Will Ever Relax?"

Assalamualaikum wbt.

Would like to share this with my sisters and brothers of Islam (copied from "The Very Best Productive Muslim.com's article. Tried to attached the link here, but unfortunately, it didn't work. Forgive me for the lacking of technical expertise in this)

"Abi, when we will ever relax?"
"With the first step we take into Jannah"

I wanted to share a moving story that I once heard and
will always remember and cherish for its meanings. It's
the story of one of the great Imams of this Ummah, Imam
Ahmad bin Hanbal.

His son, Abdullah, asked his father one day: “Abi when
will we ever relax?” His father, one of the greatest
revivers of the Sunnah and a role model for all Muslims,
looked him in the eye and said: “With the $rst step we
take into Jannah.”

Ya Allah, what a beautiful response!

There are days that come to you and you’re tired, you just
want to sleep and relax and "shut o"" as they say. Those
are the days in which you need to ask yourself a critical
question: ‘Where am I going with life?’ If it's towards
Allah and for Allah, then regain your strength and
continue your work, for Jannah is precious and must be
sought. But if you look into your life and realise that it's not
towards Allah but towards Dunya, then your tiredness
becomes a blessing, for it is a reminder that you need to
change direction and renew your purpose in life.

I love this story on many levels. For one, it shows you that
when someone's focus is Jannah, their priorities change
and their outlook on life is different. What we perceive as
diffculty, they perceive as ease. What we perceive as
calamity, they perceive as reward. What we perceive as
obstacles, they perceive as opportunities for sincere
dua. Moreover, when your focus is Jannah, this Dunya and
its constant demand becomes small and the least of our
concerns.

Also, I love the way the son began his question: "Abi" – a
sweet way of addressing his father, and asked: "When
will we ever relax?" If you notice, he didn't say, "when will
I relax Dad?” Even though he wanted to relax, he wasn’t
sel$sh and also cared for his father's condition. This also
shows you that the father and son were working hard
together. Again, when your focus is Jannah it re%ects in
your family, children, and those around you and everyone
gears up towards that goal.
Our problem today is not that we're tired, our problem
today is that we relax too much. We do everything so that
we relax. We cheat, break promises, do not fullfill
vows, lie, take and give bribery, and so on. Why? So we
can relax. We don't stay up for Tahajjud or wake up for
Fajr, we don't fast, or go for Hajj and Umrah… all so we
can relax. We don't walk towards the Masjid or open the
Book of Allah so we can understand it, all in the name of
"I need to relax!"

Dear brothers and sisters, there's plenty of relaxation
where we're going, but this is not the time for it. Let's all
work for Jannah and be productive in the path of Allah,
and work so hard that one day our children will approach
us and ask: "Abi" or "Ummi": "When will we ever relax?"
and you can smile and look them in the eyes and say,
"When we enter Jannah inshaAllah".