BEYOND EXCUSES

an arrow pointing towards a greater happiness. In this world, each upgrade grants us a taste, a fragrance, a hint. It trains our hearts to recognize the pattern of addition, so that when God speaks of “more”, our hearts know what to expect, even if our minds cannot map it. What, then, is the price we must pay? Not an austerity that hates the world, but a discipline that orders it. Not the denial of blessings, but gratitude for them. Not withdrawal from responsibility, but the purification of intention within it. To spend honestly, to speak truthfully, to forgive quickly, to give quietly, to remember God often, to keep prayer like a pulse— these are the coins of the soul. Each act plants a seed for that other country where additions never end. Sometimes, holding a new device, we feel a small thrill of arrival. We have, for a moment, the latest, the best. But arrival in this world is always temporary. Another model is already knocking. Paradise is different. There, arrival is truly arrival. There, the human story finds its home, and the heart’s restless desire for “better” is met by God’s own “even more”. So let us not be shy of the law that governs both technology and eternity: to receive what is higher, become what is higher. The hand that upgrades phones can also upgrade the self—one intention at a time, one prayer at a time, one act of mercy at a time. In a world obsessed with additions, let us be among those who add what matters most: goodness, humility, gratitude, peace. O God, You who have filled this world with signs of progress and glimpses of what lies beyond, make us worthy travellers to Your Paradise of Increase. Enlarge our capacities, refine our intentions, and grant us, by Your grace, the honour of beholding You.  (This article is written by Maulana Iqbal Umri, Tamil Nadu.)