Has it ever happened to you that you make a goal for yourself, and a roadblock pops up almost immediately. I remember when I set a plan for a clean diet and the next day I'm invited to a big party or a weekend BBQ. When I would start a project at work, almost on on queue I would have a technical glitch, a fire to put out, or better yet a phone call to pick up a sick child. I can't tell you how many times I found myself talking to G-d and saying, "What are you doing to me? Why do you keep testing me?"
But they are tests, every single one. Every time you approached the task, the work, the meeting, the goal...you encountered an obstacle strategically put there to test your desire for success. But we look at it as a test to make us fail...and boy do we just let it happen. We get discouraged, release our commitments, we throw our hands up and pass the baton to someone else. We get uncomfortable with being uncomfortable that we can't imagine pressing far enough along to see what could be.
Some of us are used to obstacles, some of us grew up without much and earning our lot. For some of us, we had to overcome great challenges in our childhood, we've had to learn coping mechanisms to survive. Suffering is part of the human condition, and depending on where you were born, your environment and your conditioning the suffering can be enormous. But the human condition is also to survive and most importantly to thrive.
I never really cared for science class or learning about organisms, but I was also struck by the idea that nature was designed to do it's toughest work in the dark. Seeds planted in the earth away from sunlight and water have to overcome tremendous obstacles to break free of their environment to begin their sprout. That little sprout when given just enough water and sun takes to it ferociously, without any excuses or confusion and uses it for growth. Even the wind and heavy rain can't stop this sprout from becoming a flourishing organism.
Why should we see ourselves any different? No one promised that life would be easy, but it's meant to be meaningful. No one promised that certain things would happen at certain times, but that everything has it's right place and time. We were never promised a chariot to carry us across the dessert, but we were promised a land of milk and honey. No one said cruising through the desert for 40 years was going to be easy, but it was meant to shape our character.
We are so fragile. We let so much noise in. We fear everything, sometimes our own shadow. We must remember that we were made in the image of G-d. We must remember who we could become, even if we are not there yet. The road is bumpy, dark, filled with noises and fear, but that is when looking inward becomes crucial. Becoming introspective is the skill we need to refine, we must seek our inner truth, we need to remember to listen to our own voice. We see the world as we are, so let's work on what is happening inside so we reflect the vision of a future our kids would be proud to live in. If we could only see ourselves through heavens eyes than we would realize that the comeback has the potential to be stronger than the setback.
