DAILYREFLECTION
If you are grateful, I will surely increase you.
Across the African savanna, ancient baobab trees stand as living monuments to gratitude and generosity. These remarkable giants can store over 32,000 gallons of water in their massive trunks during rainy seasons, then share this life-saving resource throughout nine-month droughts. Through their bark, root systems, and careful water management, baobabs sustain entire ecosystems of surrounding vegetation, animals, and human communities.
The baobab's survival strategy demonstrates profound wisdom about abundance and scarcity. During times of plenty, the tree actively stores resources and creates distribution systems that will benefit countless other organisms when harsh conditions arrive. The tree's generosity during drought transforms it into a community lifeline, earning the respect and protection of all who depend on its bounty.
What makes the baobab's approach remarkable is how gratitude and generosity create a self-reinforcing cycle. By sharing water, nutrients, and shelter, the tree builds relationships with the animals and humans who protect it from fires, spread its seeds, and ensure its long-term survival. The tree's thankful stewardship of Allah's gifts returns to benefit the tree itself through community support that enables it to live for thousands of years.
Allah promises to increase His favor toward those who show gratitude for His blessings. Like baobabs that transform individual prosperity into community abundance, grateful believers understand that hoarding blessings creates spiritual drought while sharing them creates cycles of increasing divine favor.
Reflect On This
What would it look like to treat our provision as a trust rather than a possession
Share your reflections in the poll at the end of the email.
WATERMELONWATCH
Displaced families queue for aid amid cold winter conditions, as local and international responders continue relief efforts.
OCHA says deaths and injuries continued to be reported in Gaza through January 14, alongside ongoing restrictions and winter exposure risks for families in tents and damaged buildings. Relief teams are still pushing life saving support, and UNICEF is urging a shift from “reduced violence” to real safety through scaled aid access and medical evacuation.
OCHA reports a new wave of heavy rain and strong winds hit since the evening of January 12, damaging hundreds of shelters and affecting over 3,000 people, with injuries and hypothermia deaths recorded. Humanitarian partners are responding with shelter materials and winterization, while water chemicals were delivered to keep desalination producing potable water.
Reuters says the US announced “phase two” of its Gaza plan, focused on a technocratic Palestinian administration and next stage talks amid a fragile ceasefire. Al Jazeera reports mediators are discussing steps like reopening crossings and stabilizing governance, with Palestinians framing it as a pathway toward sustained aid and reconstruction if implemented.
QURANCORNER
إِنَّا أَعْطَيْنَاكَ الْكَوْثَرَ
“ Indeed, We have granted you al-Kawthar.”
Innā aʿṭaynāka al-Kawthar
"Innā": Truly, indeed – emphasizing certainty.
"Aʿṭaynāka": We (Allah) have granted you, a gift, not earned.
"Al-Kawthar": Means abundance. It includes:
A river in Paradise given to the Prophet ﷺ (as described in hadith).
Abundant goodness in this world and the next, Prophethood, followers, Qur’an, etc.
Despite the mockery the Prophet ﷺ faced, Allah honored him with immense spiritual and eternal blessings.