Short story: A Rabbi talks about why things happen
@innertalks (21038)
Australia
September 29, 2023 12:40am CST
Rabbi Arteve Rostove, was talking to a student of his, who had just fallen off a horse, and broken his leg.
He told him:
"Everything has a reason for being as it is."
"Everything outside of yourself, externally existing, in your life connects to some inner condition of you too."
"For example, something as simple as your brick letterbox says something about you, inwardly speaking too."
"Bricks being used here could mean that you like to brick your life up, and your real thoughts are buried deep under a load of bricks, like a letter, surrounded by bricks."
"You need to reach deep inside yourself, and read the letters to you there, sent to you, both by God, and your soul self too."
"We cannot argue with the idea that everything that God does is for the good, but is everything that happens for the good too?"
"For a follower of God, this is indeed true, everything happening in our life is for the good, and will result in good, in the long run too."
"So, when things happen to us, and we are not happy with its happening, we might step back from the event, for a moment, and say to ourselves, that there is something in this happening to me that fits into God's master plan for my life."
"We are living through the unfolding of God's plan for our lives."
"He who does not thank God for this plan, will miss out on the learning opportunities that it gives to him."
"Something good can come from, or be made out of, everything that life throws at you, be it seemingly good, or bad for you, at that time."
"There is meaning in everything that happens, and so our attitude should be always this one:"
"What can I learn from this experience?"
"And be it a good, or a bad experience, the question, should be always the same one."
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
Why do things happen?
7 people like this
6 responses
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
29 Sep
Yes, Joseph told that to his brothers too:
Joseph said, "You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people."
Genesis, chapter 50, verse 20.
The story of Joseph, is one that is well worth rereading from time to time too.
@RebeccasFarm (86782)
• United States
29 Sep
It is a good way to think that there is always a reason and hard to see the reason though at times.
3 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (86782)
• United States
30 Sep
@innertalks Oh that is interesting..Einstein daydreaming..that makes perfect sense to me..to get the solution..yes little flecks of gold which is what we will see in Heaven.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
30 Sep
@RebeccasFarm Yes, there is a little bit of Heaven in every experience, l would say too. We just need to look for it.
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
29 Sep
Yes, if we remind ourselves to look for that reason, just looking can often help us to see past the painful experience.
It is a bit like when we are trying to solve a problem, like Einstein did, he would daydream about it, distracting his thinking mind, and find the solution coming to him then.
We need to do the same, with bad experiences, distance ourselves from them a bit, and look at them with hope, instead of despair, to see the flecks of gold, still in each bad experience too.
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
29 Sep
Yes, God has a plan, and he wants things to happen according to his plan, but our free will, can sometimes set us against his plan, and then he can try to bring us around again with his plan B.
The evil in the world is not of God's doing, I think, but God can still thwart evil, by allowing his plan to overcome it in our lives, for us too.
Someone like Hitler, his evil deeds were his own evil deeds, but God still allowed some individuals to get through that, as he had greater plans for their lives too. The other millions of Jews Hitler killed, I hope made it into heaven too.
@Shiva49 (26209)
• Singapore
29 Sep
No one can escape reality but how we face them matters.
I have learned more from adversity and overcoming it gave me confidence.
We should be willing to accept the consequences of our actions and make course corrections as and when needed.
We are kept alive by the uncertainties in our lives.
2 people like this
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
29 Sep
Uncertainties, and bad experiences, can unsettle us, but being unsettled is not necessarily bad, as we can then see deeper, than we could just with happy eyes, we can see both sides of life, and gain much wisdom in the seeing.
Most things here have two sides to them, and this enables us to be more multi-faceted in our thinking, and not just see things from one colour, all of the time.
Everything that happens has a significance for its happening, and we need to look for the deeper reason, and connection, to understand why things happen.
Yes, our attitude, often determines how we face things, and we should never turn our back on any learning, no matter how it comes to us.
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
1 Oct
@Shiva49 Perhaps Heaven has its unexpected fires too, if the past is anything to go on, as apparently, according to the Bible, there was a war there once, and the Devil, and all of his supporters, were summarily turfed out.
And there is an old maxim that goes, "as above, so below."
And vice versa must be true too then, and so all of the troubles here must also exist within the other worlds too.
Living is about learning, and we will continue to learn, wherever we are, or find ourselves, I guess too.
@Shiva49 (26209)
• Singapore
30 Sep
@innertalks Without challenges the maxim "an Idle Mind Is the Devil's Workshop" comes to mind.
We need an active and positive mind to put out the unexpected fires in our lives.
Then again, I wonder what we would do in heaven and what challenges we would face there as everyone will be in the best of their behavior.
1 person likes this
@joanwanjala (522)
• Mombasa, Kenya
29 Sep
Truth of the matter us,it's always easier said than done. It's not easy to acknowledge this when bad things happen
3 people like this
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
29 Sep
It might not feel easy for some, but if we do remember to do this, we will learn something even from the bad events in our lives.
Everything has something about it to teach us something from it.
@joanwanjala (522)
• Mombasa, Kenya
29 Sep
@innertalks actually, it always turns out positively for most of us but it takes time to realise and appreciate what impact such events have in our lives. Thanks for this piece. Bless you
2 people like this
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
29 Sep
@joanwanjala Yes, most people look back at a horrible event in their life, and then say that that event changed their life for the better, in the long run.
Yes, at the time, we cannot usually see the benefits.
@Beestring (13352)
• Hong Kong
29 Sep
I do believe that things, bad or good, happen for a reason.
3 people like this
@innertalks (21038)
• Australia
29 Sep
Yes, if things happened by chance alone, the world would be a pretty hit, or miss place to live in.
Most things follow laws, and natural processes, and even us, with our seemingly free will, reap the consequences of our actions, whether good, or bad. What we sow, we reap.
