There is a famous Jewish story about two rabbis who get thrown into prison during one of their exiles together. The guards had put a huge "relief" pot for the prisoners in the middle of the room and the rabbis despaired that they wouldn't be able to learn with this pot sitting there which is what they wanted to do more than anything. One of the rabbis said to the other one, "It's true we can't learn but we can dance around this pot which we usually can't do." So they embraced the situation and sang and danced around the pot. The prison guards rushed in demanding to know what the commotion was about. When they found out the rabbis were singing and dancing around the pot they quickly removed it.
There are many times in life where we are given situations that we're not happy about or that we feel block us from getting what we really want. If we show G-d that we are accepting what He is giving us in happiness, it is usually then that the situation goes away and we are able to receive what it really is that we desire.
In the case of the stressful weekend, this year I decided to embrace the situation, enjoy it and go with the flow despite any discomfort that came up. Conflicting personalities = compliments and conversation. Staying up late = laughing and making it fun. Grunt work = finding a friend to help me do it and making funny IPhone videos together. Complaining guests = empathy. You know what? It was the BEST weekend I've ever done! When I embraced the situation, accepted it and tried to make the best of it all my frustration melted away and it turned into the experience I really wanted to have.
No comments:
Post a Comment