Bigger Than Your Problems

You are bigger than your problems.

Happiness is a choice. We either choose to be happy or not. G-d, the Source of all happiness, breathed His own Happiness into your soul when He created you and wants your inborn happiness to sing and shine in every area of your life for all the years of your life.

People think that their happiness depends on external circumstances, but that’s a trap – it’s a big mistake. People need to know that they can be happy under any conditions. That’s true happiness. It’s easy to be “happy” when you win the jackpot – but how long does that last for.

What is your conception of happiness? What’s your vision of the good life? Mine is facing my problems with a smile and believing that no matter what, G-d will help me. There is no greater happiness than this even if I don’t get a chance to achieve all the goals that I have for myself. G-d wants all of us to have goals to shoot for, but to not despair if we don’t “succeed” because the main happiness that we earn is who we become on-the-way to achieving our goals and not simply from the fulfillment of those goals.

Unfortunately, for most people it’s all or nothing. If they don’t meet their quota they feel like failures. I feel sorry for those people. They still believe that it is their fault when it wasn’t even in their hands to succeed (or fail) at a given venture. They still haven’t learned that their job description is different than G-d’s job description. Only G-d, the Master of all outcomes and events decides when a person succeeds or fails. What is in our hands is only to yearn and pray for success. In Heaven they won’t ask you why you didn’t succeed at something, they will ask you why you didn’t desire it more strongly and pray for it daily. G-d won’t ever interfere with what a person wants. That’s your free choice. So go for it! Think BIG, and who knows…It’s like the Talmud says: “The way that a person desires to go is how G-d leads him.”

But the awesome power of free choice is unfortunately lost on most people. Imagine the power that G-d gives to us humans – He even gives us the power to do things that are completely against what He wants us to do. As Rebbe Nosson of Breslev writes: “…G-d gives man the power to even ‘defeat’ Him by going against Him.” Of course there will still be a final reckoning on Judgment Day, but it’s our choice! In fact it’s because of the great temptation to use our power to go against G-d that G-d has more pride and joy from us than he does even from the Holy Angels in Heaven. That’s because even though the angels serve G-d in perfect awe and fear and never slip up, they don’t have a choice about that. We, on the other hand, when we do what is right and pleasing in G-d’s eyes, could have also chosen to go in a less than desirable way. So every little bit of good, even just your good intentions are so precious to and cherished by G-d.  The more we fight aggressively against the heavy obstacles that attack us every day and learn to stay happy anyway, the more G-d sees we are ready for more abundance both materially and spiritually.

Of all the things in life what is the best thing to be happy with? The very best thing to be happy with is exactly what you have now – that is, your present lot in life. That includes your present lot of problems, failures, humiliations, sorrows and setbacks. If G-d sees that you are willing to learn how to cope and even thrive from the tests that He sends you, there is no end to what He can give you from his Royal Treasury.  Say to yourself that everything that you have, including your problems, is a gift from Hashem. He will show you so many wondrous miracles and blessings. What are you waiting for? Give us a call!

Have you had trouble with your relationships, your marriage, and your ability to parent your children? Have you tried and tried to improve in these ways and not been able to? That’s when the Evil One comes along as whispers to you: “Why bother trying to have a real relationship with anybody? You have such a lousy track record with relationships…” Or “Why try to keep the mitzvos? You already tried and saw that you couldn’t.” What the Evil One really wants to take from you even more than the relationships and the mitzvos is the power of joy that you can only have from seeing that he is dead wrong.  Seeing that you can defeat the “demons” of the past and present has the power to make you far happier than a luxurious cruise to Bermuda or winning the lottery. The more you pray to believe this and really want this attitude in your life the more G-d will give it to you. He has no reason to hold it back. Life might be boring otherwise; we anyway don’t have a choice. Thank G-d we have bills to meet and problems with our kids and a boss to answer to and other unhealthy urges that temp us. These are the greatest opportunities to learn about emuna and come very close to G-d. We just can’t get there any other way.