In the early morning I go out to get milk.
The way is open and fresh.
Air fills my lungs all the way to the top.
There is hope trees and new roads.
Lots of blue sun and quiet.
No one knows anyone on this road. No one asks any questions.
Tractors and trucks just move. No yelling no honking. In the early hours everything seems to know its place its speed.
Then slowly it starts to build. The sun comes out just a little too strong.
A long horn blows.
Another.
Two three ten cars stopped in the left lane. Stuck in a traffic jam. And all because someone forgot to fill up with gas.
And the whole day changes.
I go home and notice that traffic jams happen everywhere even in the kitchen.
The sink is full. The counters are covered with last night’s surprise late guest’s dinner plates.
And all because someone didn’t do their job because someone else didn’t do theirs because the someone before them didn’t do theirs either. And now there’s no room to work which will hold up dinner which will cause tension which will cause me to scurry around to find some quick unhealthy solution that takes more time than if a whole filling dinner had been prepared earlier.
I think the history of the world family dynamics and spiritual struggles are all wrapped up in that clogged sink. In the traffic jam.
I once called a friend and she said “You want to hear a chiddush I had?”
“Of course ” I answered.
She talked about the effects and the importance of planning and brought the example of Eisav and Yaakov. She said Eisav was always in a rush honking and demanding. As soon as he finished killing Nimrod he needed to eat fast. He would have sold anything at that moment because he was in such a rush. He was stuck. Yaakov on the other hand had gotten up early and made lentil soup which takes a long time to cook and so when the time came there was food to give Eisav in exchange for the bechorah.
Well there are some things in life you can control and some you can’t.
Like you know that if you leave at 6:20 in the morning then nine times out of ten there won’t be a minute of traffic but if you leave at 6:30 you’ll be stuck for an hour.
Or if you weren’t able to give your children the attention they needed in the early years they can get stuck later.
I know a family who went through very hard financial times and then very hard health times. They weren’t able to give their children all they would have liked to give. Yes some said those were just excuses. But the truth is sometimes things do happen that we can’t plan for. They had another family raise their children. They missed all the young years. They thought they missed their only chance. But Hashem has many ways and the family that watched over the children decided the children should return home because their emotional needs outweighed their physical benefits even though the parents were not in the best of health. At first the parents thought they had nothing to give and that their children would never forgive them. But within a day it all became clear. They were all willing and needing to start all over again.
There is something very special that G-d gives us. A new day a new chance.
When we get stuck we have to go back to the beginning where the way is open and fresh. Where air fills the lungs all the way to the top.
Where there is hope trees and new roads.
Go back there. —