"I"-dolatory

Summer is here and Canada is abuzz with happy people and even more excited children. Its a time for celebration in this part of the world. Allah's bounties are plentiful in this season and each day is an opportunity to reflect on His infinite blessing, Alhamdolillah.
Another feature of this season are the lush front yards of people's houses. I admire rows upon rows of manicured lawns and the rainbow colored flowers. In addition you see garden gnomes, sculptures, lights and fountains and rock gardens and the list is endless. Its all very pretty but i wonder, how much does it cost? More-so, how much time and effort was put in this? I hear from friends who like gardening that its a taxing task, it requires daily supervision, work and care and you may have to sell a kidney for its upkeep (sarcasm!) People save for an entire season or a year even, to remodel their gardens. SubhanAllah! How hard they try to make their dunya into their jannah, whilst saving nothing for the real Jannah. If its not gardens, its kitchens with remodeling and upgrading from marble to granite and what not! Changing wall colors, furniture, flooring - its really endless! I have never heard anyone say yes! now the house is done, i dont need to change a single thing. When it finally does reach that level of satisfaction, guess what? Its time to sell! And it begins again.
The advent of Islam brought a profound principle to people's lives - There is only one Lord worthy of worship! The weaker sect of the society were amongst the first to accept because they understood what it was like to be enslaved, and they realized what kind of freedom Islam offered them. After being given this precious freedom, we choose to enslave ourselves to worldly desires. We may not be idol-worshipers, but we are worshiping something besides Allah. Worship is not sitting on a prayer mat, it is also not chanting or kneeling down - it is something greater and deeper than all that. Its the sincere love towards your lord which never lets you forget Him, its the fear of losing His mercy which makes you want to please Him. This worship is your everyday life, your every action even as self-indulgent as a good cup of tea that you read Bismillah on. When we indulge in worldly desires, then the love which was suppose to be Allah's alone, is now shared. Our desire for those things occupies our mind, till our days are spent wondering about it, acquiring it, beautifying it - these things become our idols - our existence revolves around them.
As Allah says "Allah hath not assigned unto any man two hearts within his body..." (Surat Al Ahzab v4). We have only one heart and only one sincere love can stay within - dunya or Allah. Dont get me wrong, it is not sinful to appreciate/enjoy this dunya, as it too is the creation of Allah. Just make sure you love the dunya, for the sake of Allah and then that love too will be worship. So in essence, the dunya and all its decorations and all its ties are a subset to the greater love.
You may think I'm being too excessive- just think back to your last remodeling/redecorating project, or even a party that you threw. How occupied was your heart and mind with its preparations? How much of money was spent on it? How much did it remind you of Allah? So, your time, money and love were spent but not in Allah's way.
The beauty of this balance and how you should recognize if you fall within this category, is that such a person would be focused and driven. This person has a bigger goal in life and his everyday is working towards that goal. He cannot afford to divert his attention from this greater goal and hence seems rushed, almost as if he needs to squeeze the khayr out of every second of the day. How can such a person engage in hours of shopping, gardening, remodeling or lazing? He is much too busy decorating his home in Jannah. I have seen such people and I really, truly aspire to be one of them. Ameeen Ya Rabbil Alameen.