Unrealistic expectations will most often lead to disappointment.
Once an individual was complaining to the Lubavitcher Rebbe about all the struggles and difficulties he was facing. The Rebbe responded to him: “Since when have you signed a contract with G-d that life would be easy?” Life isn’t meant to be easy. We are on an important Divine mission and part of that mission is to deal with these challenges and difficulties.
Earlier this week Ari Fuld, 45, was stabbed in the back. The terrorist attack took place Sunday morning at an Israeli mall in the West Bank. Amazingly, only after chasing down his attacker, shooting, and disabling him, did Ari succumb to his wound and later died in the hospital. At his funeral, his daughter, Tamar, 22, stood up to say goodbye to her dad. “One sentence my father always told me, that has stuck with me forever: ‘If life is easy, you are living it wrong.’ Life is meant to be a daily challenge. That is what I am doing now, it will be hard, I am sure, but at least I know I am doing something right.”
When we expect life to be easy, we are quickly frustrated when things don’t go our way. However, when we remember that our challenges are an important part of our purpose in life, we see them as opportunities to further our critical mission and are not as easily thrown off by them. The next time you face a difficulty, remember that this difficulty – and the way you respond to it – is a part of why you are here. It is not stopping you from fulfilling your mission - rather, it is your mission; it is not getting in your way, it is your way.
As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Saks recently wrote; “Life may be hard, but it can still be sweet. Jews have never needed wealth to be rich, or power to be strong. To be a Jew is to live for the simple things: love, family, community. Life is sweet when touched by the Divine."
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Benjy Silverman