Last night I was at a class that was very interesting. While its purpose was to be a question and answer session with the relationship counselor who had been giving lectures for the past few weeks no one was particularly prepared for the questions so we had a sort of improvised lecture instead. Paz the lecturer started off by reviewing the story of Purim (its a little after but we're not so far off from it). He spoke about the bad guy Haman and how he had everything that he could ever want but for some reason when Mordechai didn't bow down to him that pushed him over the edge. The question asked was how can something so small cause Haman to decide that he is going to destroy the entire nation of the Jews?
The answer to this question is quite simple. Haman had everything. He was rich, had many wives, many children, he was second in command to the king and had free reign in the kingdom. But there was a problem, see even though he had everything that one could ever want, those who have everything will always want more. It says in the Talmud that "who ever gets one hundred will want two". This is true. How often in our own lives do we think that we'll just want one and that will be enough, "I'll just have one cookie" "I'll just win this one lottery and everything will be fine." The problem is this is not true, someone who wins the lottery and thinks that the money is enough will find themselves wanting more. This was Haman's problem he had everything except for authority over Mordechai and that is what pushed him over the edge.
Now to apply this to our own lives Paz told us how we can get over this obstacle and be happy with what we have. There are only three things that one has to keep in mind in every situation in order to be satisfied with their lives. It sounds easy enough but I'm sure that it sounds easy in theory but it can be very difficult in practice.
1. recognize that God created the world
2. God loves you
3. Everything that happens to you is for your benefit.
Since God loves you he is trying to make things happen for you to benefit from them. For example, a father buys his son ice cream because the son got hit in the face by a ball, in this scenario the ice cream is to benefit the son, the cold will keep the swelling down and the son gets the sugar to make his feel better. Second scenario is the father takes his son to the dentist to get a cavity filled. The son is not going to enjoy this experience but because the father loves him he is doing something for the son's benefit. If we were to start looking at the world this way, as maybe what I'm going through now is difficult but God has a plan. Then we should be able to be happy with our lot and not let all the little things get under our skin.
This is my next task. To try and keep these three thoughts in my mind and try to find the benefit from what is happening in my life and not to get angry about every little thing.
