Connection with the One

 You make my feet firm by Your Word:

Do not let sin overcome me.  -Psalm 119

 

You are not alone.  You never were and never will be.  At times it may have as if the choices you made and the events that affected you left you feeling bereft with no one to share the burden of sorrow.  Without doubt, the road is long and feels so much longer when in pain.  No one can tell you where it goes or how it will end.  Still, you are not alone, ever.

In the journey of life, you will become lost and disoriented.  That is not failure and it certainly is not the end of the tale.  This is when learning happens.  Challenges allow us to invest our ingenuity.  To stop along this road and ask for directions is not a sign of weakness it is the mark of maturity.  When we inquire, we learn.

Others have tread this path before us.  They too were not alone.  His Presence buffeted and steered them through their time on anguish and sorrow.  This same strength will uphold you.  Allow God to be your navigational guide.  Trust Him and His power.  

And do not forget to say thank you.

 

A story

Rabbi Yohanan said, “A man was walking along the road late at night.  Suddenly his lamp was blown out by a gust of wind.  He lit it but the wind blew out again.  Finally, he said to himself, “Why should I continue to bother myself lighting the lamp when it will just be snuffed out?  I will sit here by the roadside and wait for sunlight.  Then I will travel once more.”

So tic is with the Lord God.  When it was His will that we be released from the grip of Pharaoh he sent our teacher, Moses.  And when we were exiled to the distant reaches of Babylon, He sent His servant Zerubbabel.  Mordecai saved us from the clutches of Haman (May his name be erased for all time. Amen).  So it was with the Maccabees and every evil that has cast its pall over the Jewish people.  

The Holy One, blessed be He, hears the moans from His people.  Enduring terrible pain, the people turn to the Rabbis who comb the ancient and holy texts.  They read this prayer:

O Lord, free us not through the intervention of any person.  We are weary of the endless cycle of enslavement, freedom and enslavement.  Be our redeemer, not a mortal.    Let no man lighten us but lighten us Yourself.  As is written in the sacred writings, “With You is the fountain of life.  In Your light we see light.”