Salah

Salah - Its "the" pillar of our deen simply because its the only we got to do 5 times daily; simply because its the first thing we will be asked about by our Lord; simply because when the people of Jannah will ask people of jahannum what put you there - they will say we didn't pray. Allah has told us it prevents us from "fahsh" (immodest things) and to seek help from Salah. Allah has told us innumerable times to establish Salah. So its a biggie.
Seeing how important Salah is, its not unnatural that its a norm in today's society to label a person who prays 5 times a day as "religious". So here's the tricky part about salah, how many people do you know who pray regularly and have so for years, but nothing from their daily lives has changed, even one bit.  With the amount of people praying regularly, we shouldn't see as much "fahsh" in the society as we do, but we do. The problem is though we pray regularly, we dont understand its significance, we dont give its rightful rank, we dont believe it will change us.
People! as important as Salah is - it means nothing if you have not made a connection with Allah SWT in it. It is nothing, if you dont know what you are saying and who you are standing in front of. Its nothing if your day to day life is not changed from it. You cannot reap its many benefits unless you know what benefits to reap from it!
 If you pray, and i hope you do; but arent able to make the necessary changes in your life that you know you must - reassess the quality of your salah. Chances are there's something missing there. Dont ever think you pray "enough" or "well enough" - remember Iblees was elevated in ranks to that of angels and then became the accursed.
Our salah is in constant need of improvement, only and only then will we see an improvement in ourselves. Theres an old programming term GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. Apply that to your ibadah, the more ikhlas and effort that goes into the salah - the better the results. Consider why you rush your salah. What are the reasons you delay your salah or dont pay attention to tahara or the salah itself? eliminate those weeds, like your life depends on it - because it does!
The munafiq of Madina harbored a hate for Islam and Muslims, yet what was one act they diligently performed - Salah! Why? They knew if they didnt come to jama'a, people will know they are not true muslims. SubhanAllah! But what was wrong with their Salah? They were not sincere, as we arent now. Our salah can easily be compared to that of the munafiq because we drag ourselves to the prayer mat; but thats the extent our sincerity reaches.
Whether its hijab you are struggling with, gheebat, anger, tawakkul, discipline or even depression (not the medical kind) - all the solutions are in your Salah. Go back to the drawing board - no frills or fancy and take control of that next Salah that may be your last.
May Allah make me improve my Salah, may you benefit from my post. All good is from Allah and all evil and hurtful things are from my nafs.