 It is not something to be easy to comprehend nor implement with. For me, gratefulness is started with "Alhamdulillah", means that All Praises and Thanks be to Allah. That "Alhamdulillah" means a lot to me. I've been here just because of Allah. From nothing, from zero, Allah creates me to be a human, the best the creature in this world.
Allah creates human as the representative of Allah on the earth, as viceroy or "khalifah". This means to rule the world wisely and not make any destruction nor damage of the earth. Â By becoming the best, it doesn't mean I don't have any frailness and consequences of what I would do.
Sometimes I should carry burdens of what I've done as my consequences. And sometimes the sad and sorrow that happened in me because of it is just become my destiny. But whatever it is, no matter how hard this life will be, I should be more grateful as my life was being so perfect just like this. Gratefulness is divided into two, they are grateful when happy and sad.
Allah says, "And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed, 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase you (in favor); but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.'" (Ibrahim 14: 7)
The prophet Muhammad showed utmost gratitude in his worship to Allah. Even he already knew that heaven is surely opened for him, He would pray a large part of the night throughout the year, and his gratitude would even increase in times of special divine bounty. Like in Ramadan, one of his wife, Aisyah reported, "When the Prophet prayed (the night prayer or "Qiyamul Lail"), he would stand until (the skin of) his feet swelled. So, Aisyah said, "O Prophet of Allah, do you do as such while Allah has forgiven you all mistakes?" He responded: "Should not I be a grateful servant of Allah?" (Muslim).
Being happy doesn't mean you enjoys all your life lively. Happy means you've given more change to make others happy. Indeed it is the way to show your gratefulness to others. And for Allah who had given us the change to be happy, means that we have to pray more, to say "Alhamdulillah" more, to do the good things and avoid the bad things.
When I was happy, sometimes I missed pray 5 times, I didn't read the Qur'an. Sometimes I forgot to whom I got back and where the happiness coming from. It was easier said than done. I am not always be a good muslim. I always makes mistakes.
Meanwhile when the sad comes, as just this time was one of my hardest part of my life, I remembered Allah easily. I think of Allah more, I prayed day and night, I cried a lot. Sometimes I blame Allah, "Why did you give this destiny?", "It is so unfair for me!", "She should get more punishment than myself!", and "I am just the bad luck". There were so many nights that I gave up on life and consecutively blame Allah and me. There were so many insomnia and bad dreams during this 3 months. And also there were some enlightenments during those crazy days.
I found myself during those prayers and sadness. I found my past self was longing and waiting to move on, to accept, to be grateful, and to forgive myself. There was the past that couldn't be changed easily, but the future will always be bright for the one who sees the future. When I am sad, this would be easy to remember to Allah, but to be grateful to accept no matter how sad you are, it still took more works, more bag eyes, and so much more.
Allah, the Almighty says, which means, "And it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know." (AI-Baqarah, 2:216). That was the best answer during my sadness, sorrowful, and misfortunes that leading me to be grateful and an acceptance of myself. Even sometimes, deep in my mind still recording about the bad times, I am still grateful to get my acceptance and forgiveness right now.
