You’re A Winner

There is a famous teaching that says, “Remember where you came from. Think about where you are going. Know Who you will stand before at the end of your life.” Whoah, that’s pretty heavy. I was watching a lecture by Rabbi Wallerstein, and he really put things in perspective. Like him, I would have said, “I came from the earth, and I’m going back to the earth. I will stand before God at the end of my 120 years.” However, this is not the correct answer. The famous Mishna states, “You came from a rotten, putrid drop. You are going to dirt, maggots, and worms. You are going to stand before The Creator, King of Kings.”
 
I don’t know about you, but to me, this sounds extremely depressing! We come from the lowliest form of creation, we are going down to a disgusting, worm-infested place, and then after all this, we have to stand before God Himself?! What kind of motivation is this? Does this statement inspire me to want to live the most spiritually-uplifting life that I can? Why not do like others, who live with no higher consciousness? Why not just live for the moment and not worry about tomorrow? People who live this way seem to be having a great time- like it’s happy hour 24 hours a day! But…
 
As usual with Torah, there is more to this statement than meets the eye. “Actually,” as Rabbi Wallerstein points out, “This has got to be one of the most positive and inspiring mishnas ever!” Why? Let’s review Biology 101. Within the human seed are 400-600 million cells. How many partner in the creation of a human? ONE! To really appreciate these numbers, imagine a war with both sides having 300 million soldiers. They’re fighting to the death, and only one soldier is left standing. Just to appreciate this fact is a great way to appreciate the unbelievable miracle of creation. It really helps us to put our lives in perspective.
 
How does this battle play out in Heaven? I envision millions of souls in Heaven praying they will be the lucky one who will make the journey down to earth. “Pick me, I’m going to cure cancer!” yells one soul. “No, pick me! I’m going to end world hunger!” counters another. “Over here! I’m going to bring world peace!” calls out a third. Finally, based on reasons only The Creator knows, one lucky soul is picked. Do you know who that one-in-a-million is? Just look in the mirror! It’s you! Each one of us were the winners in our own life-and-death struggle to get here! We fought against millions of other souls even before we were created, and we WON! Congratulations! You’ve just won Hashem’s spiritual lottery!
 
Let’s now look at what happens when we have to stand in front of not only The Creator after our allotted time on earth. Not only do we have to report to The General, we have all of the souls who fought against us, eagerly waiting to hear what our lives on earth were like. They will ask, “Nu? What was it like down there? What did you accomplish?” If we lived our lives with no spiritual awareness as Rabbi Brody puts it, we may answer, “Uh…I got a degree…I worked hard…oh, yeah, I gave some charitable donations.” The souls are shocked: “What?! That’s what you did with your life? Do you know of the great things we could have done if we were lucky enough to come down to earth? We would have brought peace on earth!”
 
The poor winner might shrug his shoulders and respond, “I just didn’t have the strength to overcome my challenges. What could I do?” Oh, boy- now the souls are really riled up: “What could you do? WHAT COULD YOU DO?! You beat all of us in the biggest struggle of your life! You came down to earth because of your ability to overcome tremendously difficult challenges! You could have accomplished anything!” Can you imagine the embarrassment of this poor soul? This might sound silly, but I have a paper over my washing machine (where I spend “loads” of time, ha, ha!) that says, “The greatest hell is to see what we could have accomplished, yet failed to do so.”
 
This simple and deep teaching has given me a great boost of self-confidence, and I hope it will do the same for you. Whenever you feel that a challenge is too great to overcome, remember: ask God for help, and remind yourself that you are much stronger than you give yourself credit for. The challenges we face are supposed to be difficult- that’s part of the game! In reality, the Evil Inclination is actually doing us a favor by giving us challenges that we feel we can’t overcome.
 
Think back when you had to study for a difficult exam. As you began to study, you might have felt overwhelmed; maybe you doubted that you could ever understand the material. You probably felt that the situation was hopeless- you were never going to get it. But, what happened when you really gave it your best effort? When you decided that no matter what, you were going to do your best? How great did you feel when you found out you passed, or even did better than you expected? What about exercising? When you push yourself past your limits, aren’t you flying on that cloud of success/endorphins? Don’t you feel like you can conquer the world at that moment? (Love those endorphins!) If we didn’t have that opponent telling us that we can’t do it, that it’s too hard, would we get any satisfaction from reaching our goal? None, whatsoever! So whatever your challenge is, face it with emuna, strength, and determination. It doesn’t matter what the outcome of our efforts are- that is beyond our control and completely up to Hashem. All we have to do is put in our maximum effort and realize that the rest is up to Him.
 
One more thing- I have realized another secret trick of the Evil Inclination. He wants us to expect perfection of ourselves the first time we attempt something. This is nonsense! If we think like this, we are constantly setting ourselves up for disappointment! Then we will become discouraged, and then we will end up not even trying! What a brilliant trick by the Yetzer, I have to admit.
 
Back when I used to watch TV, I loved watching the figure skating championships during the Olympics. I was amazed by every complicated jump, by the beautiful choreography, by the flawless (or almost flawless) performances. But then I realized something- how many hours, months, years do these athletes train? They train almost all day, every day, for most of their lives! Think about this- how many times does a skater have to fall until she lands that triple lutz/triple salchow combination? She falls again and again and again and again, but she doesn’t give up! This is why she deserves to be an Olympian. These people are in such a high caliber because they don’t let their Yetzer overcome them! They don’t listen to the lies that the Yetzer is whispering in their ears; they ignore their feelings of doubt and push through them! And do you know what? We all have unlimited potential to become Spiritual Olympians! Now, more than ever, we need to access our God-given powers and use them to bring peace on earth. When the situation looks hopeless, this is the time to remind yourself- you are a winner, and don’t ever forget it!