Hold On! Begin Again Now!
Meshivat Nefesh #22
When my spiritual boat gets rocked and I feel like I’ve fallen from where I want to be, I need to remember that nothing happens unless it was decreed on high.
So even though I’m fully accountable for whatever I’ve done wrong, I also need to accept that it was, after all is said and done, bashert—it was meant to be, also. It was meant to be because the experience of a setback is meant to inspire me to feel greater longing and yearning to reconnect with G-d. When my fall and failure catalyzes a new and deeper degree of connection, it can also be understood to have been “heaven sent.”
The main thing, though, is to immediately start again, and to get used to starting fresh even many times a day. As Rebbe Nachman said, “You must re-enter the service of G-d as if you have never served Him ever before. You must literally begin from the absolute beginning, completely fresh.”
Dear G-d,
You are the One who, in Your goodness,
“Renews each day, constantly, the works of creation.”
Help me, please,
to keep on refreshing myself also,
and to never get stuck even if I’ve made mistakes.
Please help me to see every fall as just a new means of rising.
(Based on Likutey Moharan I:261)