Spring.

One thing I love about this country is how each season is marked and obvious. The scene around you is completely different in the summer and in the winter.
In the course of a few months I saw the transformation from white coated, barren lands with dry, shriveled up remains of trees, into vast lush green lands and flowers.
And soon the winter and barrenness will be back, and the green will disappear without a trace as if it was never there.
I’m reminded of these ayat in Surah Kahf:

Translation:
“Give them an example of worldly life: it is something like some water which We sent down from the sky. So by means of that water, the substances or vegetation of the Earth starts mixing with the water. Then all of a sudden it transforms into something that is broken up, worthless and crushed (lifeless, dry stubble) which the winds blow around. And Allah has always been in complete control over all things.
Wealth and children are nothing but adornment of the worldly life. But the lasting good deeds are better to your Lord for reward and better in regards to hope.”
Just like the water falls from the sky, spring comes and the earth springs into lush greens and life, we come to the earth and live our life. We work hard and accumulate family, love and wealth. And before we know it, life goes by in a flash, and the remainder is these barren lands and scattered remains of dried up leaves that are blown away.
This is all that will remain of all that we have accumulated, all that we run after.
Allah in the ayah has compares worldly life to water. He SWT takes special care in this ayah to attribute the water to Himself. It’s coming down from the sky. What this does is that it shows that everything Allah sends down has purpose. Water has a purpose, and it is being compared to life. Which means, life has a purpose. And it doesn’t just have purpose, it has divine purpose because it is coming from Allah. So someone who is engrossed in just worldly things have lost sight of the fact that the things that have given these worldly things life, came with a divine purpose. Things you and I enjoy in this world. The garden you and I enjoy, or the life you and I enjoy, actually doesn’t just have a worldly purpose. It has a divine and higher purpose. And you have to remember that and go out of our way to remember that. Life, the food we eat, whatever we study, the jobs and families we work towards, all have a higher purpose.
Allah tells us in these ayat, what is temporary, what will blow away as if it never was there, and what will remain, are only our good deeds, our working towards our real purpose. That is what is permanent.