Slow and Steady Wins the Race

The first semester of the school year just ended a week ago.  Last week we had final exams, and the week before that was spent reviewing all the chapters we had covered thus far.  During that last week I had a lot of D and C students come and ask me what they could do at THIS time to fix their grade and bring it up to a C or a B, respectively.  They become hostile and a little frantic this time of year.

Meanwhile the A and B students are as cool as a cucumber.  They didn’t have any missing work to turn in.  They’d be consistently studying all quarter, so reviewing wasn’t such a task for them either.  And most of them had worked hard to earn a good grade all quarter that they had a pretty nice cushion to fall back on during finals–their grades weren’t going to be effected as easily by a bad midterm grade.

I really felt sorry for the C and D students.  They had spent the first  8 weeks ignoring warnings of missing assignments, low quizzes and tests, tutoring opportunities, extra credit, etc.  Because they were lazy and procrastinated they were completely helpless when it really mattered to them.  And sadly enough, I think they were hoping for a miracle to come and help them transform into an amazing student in the last 2 weeks and then pull their grades out of a big old mess they spent 8 weeks creating.

It’s too bad they didn’t know it doesn’t work that way!  If you want an A or a B, you have to be an A or a B students from the start.  It’s the students that consistently turn in homework (which is just for credit, anyway–easy 10 points), pay attention to earn participation (another easy 5 points a day) and study just a bit everyday for a quiz or an upcoming test.  Their acts may be small, but they’re consistent.  And at the end of the quarter, their consistency pays off.    It’s interesting to see that even the students that just flat out don’t get it (I mean majorly failing tests and quizzes), because they turn in their homework everyday, they never fail the class.  Their tests can only hurt them so much.  Their consistent performance in homework goes a long way. 

I see this as a parable for practicing Islam.  Being consistent goes a long way!  And if you’re consistent in small acts, then insha’Allah when you’re nearing your death you won’t have to worry about everything you missed out on out of sheer laziness.  Praying regularly is like doing homework everyday.  Having taqwa is like being attentive in class.  Reading Qur’an is like studying for tests and quizzes.  The more consistent you are, the more likely you are to be that grade A Muslim that we all want to be when we get our report card.

‘A’isha said that Rasulullah saw said : “The deeds most loved by Allah swt (are those) done regularly, even if they are small”. ( Bukhari, Muslim )