Each of Your Breaths is a Priceless Jewel...

On making the most of our lives...

"Know that no state can be sound in the presence of neglect, and no wealth useful in the presence of heedlessness. For if you abandon yourself to neglect and purposelessness, as the cattle do, and just do anything that may occur to you at any time it happens to occur to you, most of your time will be wasted. Your time is your life, and your life is your capital; it is the basis of your transactions [with God], and the means to attain everlasting felicity, in the proximity of God the Exalted. Each of your breaths is a priceless jewel, and when it passes away it never returns"

- from Imam Al-Haddad's The Book of Assistance