What a Waste....:(???
It takes her a tremendous amount of effort to get up in the morning. It’s so early. Even the roosters are still asleep. But she does it. She’s up and she starts her day. She makes breakfast and lunches. The sun starts to make its appearance. She prays. The children, she helps them get dressed and ready for school.
She knows that the clock is ticking. Even with all the nudging and “nuing” this one misses his bus and that one misses his ride. Her husband barely makes it to minyan. They have been up for HOURS, hours and they still run late? Yes, because this child’s shoelace broke. That child, she’s not cooperating. The baby won’t let her put her down and the other child, once again, entered the bathroom.
She sighs a heavy sigh. She knows that this is life. She’s raising people in a home. Not training soldiers in the army. Yet, doubt enters and she can’t help but wonder, “Maybe getting up so early, it was just a waste? Trying to be organized and on top of things, maybe it was just a waste? All this time and energy, trying and not getting there…maybe it’s just a waste.”
Just a waste?
***
She comes to me after many failed attempts at having a baby. She goes through the list of all that she’s done. The doctors, the treatments, the different therapies. The prayers, the blessings, the tears. She comes to me after so many failed attempts and she tells me, “Nothing worked, it’s all a waste. Time, money, energy…a waste. My hands are still empty.”
It’s really all a waste?
***
The doctors are telling her that the baby must come out and she runs trying to do whatever she can to bring on labor naturally. The list is long. I know it well and when she comes to me as yet another last resort, I can tell that it won’t happen this way either. In the end she submits and goes to the hospital. The labor is brought on medically and she tells me, “It was all a waste.”
Was it truly all a waste?
***
They tried. They put all their effort into…finding the solution, building it, making it grow, making it happen, making it work. Their hearts, time, energy, prayers and tears. They put it all and it didn’t grow, or budge. The child didn’t come back…yet. They ask themselves, “Was it all a waste?”
Was it? Is this all in vain?
***
So I, I have an answer, maybe it’s not the one you would expect. But here it is…
No, it’s not a waste.
All the gold that was used for the work-for all the holy work-the offered-up gold was twenty-nine talents, seven hundred and thirty shekels, in the sacred shekel (Shemot 38:24).
For all the holy work-In the ordinary course of working with gold, there is always waste. Nevertheless, as our verse states, all the of the gold, without any waste, went into the holy work-Or HaChaim
That’s right, when the work is (as mundane as it might appear or as futile) directed for holiness, there’s no waste.
You see Hashem, He gives us material and what to work with. For some it’s this form of effort, for others something else. When you have the goal in mind of just wanting to take whatever it is that He gives you and make something beautiful out of it. Something for a holy purpose, then nothing, nothing is a waste. The effort or time or money or energy, it’s never spent in vain. We do what we can- make an effort and the results, the outcomes, are in Hashem’s Hands.
Please remember that each drop is needed to fill a cup, not just the last drop.
May we never feel like “it was just a waste” and see the blessings that comes out of each drop.
Chodesh tov and Shabbat Shalom!
Much bracha and simcha,
Elana