We Appear One Day and Disappear the Next

1.

Look at the birds flying in the sky, soaring above the trees and over the rooftops. They are searching for food. All day long they fly about in order to satisfy the hunger of their stomachs, but at twilight they must return to their nests. Man also searches for food to satisfy his one-span stomach. Even the ant has a one-span stomach which he must fill with food.

Our life lasts for but one day. We appear one day and disappear the next. All of us have to return, just as the bird must return to its nest. We must go back to the nest of God’s kingdom. This is certain.

We appear for a day and when it becomes dark we have to go. Every minute, every second, time is moving on. Yet we waste all our time trying to satisfy our stomachs. We think of the infinite as finite and the finite as infinite. It is ignorant to think like that, because at any moment we might have to leave the world. Destruction could come to us at any moment. In an instant, we could forget the truth and do what is wrong.

Each child must think and believe with certitude in that which is truly infinite. We must understand that everything which is finite can change at any moment. And yet we still have to perform our duties in this world in the proper way. If we understand the good that we can do here before we have to leave, it will be beneficial for us. Then that one day which exists between our appearance and our disappearance will not be wasted.

- Sufi Guide Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, may God be pleased with him

2.

Son of man says: 'My wealth', 'my wealth', but out of his wealth three things are only his: whatever he eats and makes use of, or by means of which he dresses himself and it wears out or he gives as charity, and this is what he stored for himself (as a reward for the Hereafter), and what is beyond this (it is of no use to you) because you are to depart and leave it for other people.

- Saying of the Holy Prophet, may our love be perfected for him 
Recorded in Hadith of Muslim Collection

3.
Only that which can not be lost in a shipwreck is yours.

- Traditional Sufi Saying

This is said because in a shipwreck you lose everything, everything you thought  or took as if they belong to you is lost. At the end its your own life, your own soul also depart from what you call 'i'-ness. Thus in a shipwreck, you have nothing that you can call yours. Thus in the saying, "only that which can not be lost in a shipwreck is yours" the sufis give us the glimpse of the haqq (reality, truth) that in reality nothing belongs to us and everything belongs to The One, the Originator, the Marvelous Creator Who creates from Nothingness. Alhamdulillah. Every Praise belongs to Him.

4.
al-Warith

One of the Holy Name of the Divine invoked by the Sufis is al-Warith, which points to the Reality of The True Inheritor, The Supreme Heir.

al-Warith is The One who remains after all of creation has perished. The One to whom all returns. The One who has everlasting ownership of all that has ever been and that will ever be. The One to whom all possessions return when the temporary possessor is gone. The One who inherits all that we have done.

Wa-inna lanahnu nuhyee wanumeetu wanahnu al warithoon. 

Walaqad AAalimna almustaqdimeena minkum walaqad AAalimna almusta/khireen. Wa-inna Rabbaka Huwa yahshuruhum innahu Hakeemun AAaleem. 

And verily, it is We, the Mystical Oneness and the Secret Multiplicity, both embraced inside the Veil of Lordship, is Who give life, and Who give death: it is We Who remain inheritors (after all else passes away). To Us are known those of you who hasten forward, and those who lag behind. Assuredly it is your Lord Who will gather them together: for He is perfect in Wisdom and Knowledge. - The Quran 15:23