Endurance. Eternity. Persistence. Leadership. Active Force. Victory within Love. Unbounded Giving. Flow. Acts of Kindness.
I am weary tonight. Another Tuesday of driving the hour round trip to drop my daughter off at her gym, followed by an hour-and-a-half spiritual study group of which I am a co-leader. Gotta show up. Not just my butt in the chair show up, but really show up. As I drove from the gym to my study, I felt how I am growing weary of this routine. It is not just Tuesdays. She goes three times a week. I have the easy shift - my wife scoops her up at the end of her practice at 9PM.
Why do I Persist? How do I Endure? Oh, my, I Love that kid. The gym is good for her. It is good for her body, mind, and spirit. Most of the time, our time in the car together is serious quality time. Car time does something magical, and she can open up to me about all kinds of things that wouldn’t come out over the dining table. The whole thing is surrounded by Love. It is an Endurance Act of Kindness. I am less likely to grow weary of it if I infuse this Act with Divine Netzach, rather than my own steam. My own steam definitely comes in limited supply.
Ahavat Olam Beit Yisrael am’cha Ahavta. With an Eternal Love, You have Loved your people Israel. And it’s not just us, friends. It’s all the peoples. It’s the whole thing. We are surrounded by Love, a Love powered by the constantly Flowing Active Life Force. It is so easy to forget that we are constantly engulfed in G-d, and Persist in running on our own steam, running out of steam. Tonight reminds us that, in the words of Rabbi Rami Shapiro, we are Loved by an Unending Love.
I’d like to leave you with a wonderful Haiku, sent to me today by my friend Rabbinic Pastor David Daniel Klipper. It spoke to me so beautifully of our Persistence in seeking to connect with the Loving Presence that is always there, even when we forget.
take one step forward
then fall two steps back. Still, three
steps closer to God
Endurance and Persistence paid off with this sweet Love!