Monday, December 1, 2014

What To Do With B'shert - The Star



The Star is a very hopeful card, where guidance is found from within, giving meaning and faith, in the midst of difficulty, when Pandora's box has been opened. I drew this card Friday and didn't get a chance to blog about it. It has been on my mind since, because I have been thinking a lot about life, destiny, fate, and thought I'd continue with the post as soon as I could, after a busy few days.

I subscribe to a site, and am part of an online community. Rabbi Brian sends along 'wisdom biscuits' from his site that he calls ' Religion Outside The Box '. I am glad I was late in posting about The Star, because when I received the post from Rabbi Brian today, I thought it fit well with The Star, a card that warns us against having blind hope, when our dreams don't match up with reality, but urges and reminds us to keep the faith, and to know that deep within, we possess a will to live. We need to hold tight to hope, as it can make all the difference between life and death, in some circumstances.

It is easy to feel like things are meant to be when things are going our way, but I ask myself what happens when they aren't working the way I want? Do I lose hope and faith, feel sorry for myself, and ask why me? Certainly all the struggles, suffering and burdens, many of us bare more than our share, and it is sometimes very hard to have hope and faith.  Are those difficulties meant to be? I don't think so. It is simply the reality of life. Life is what happens, when we are making other plans as John Lennon once said.


Rabbi Brian calls it, "b'shert", the saying we all hear "it was meant to be" Here is a story he shared on his post today. 

" A man, because he couldn't figure out how to say no to the request, reluctantly loaned a set of silver serving spoons to his neighbor. They were returned along with a shiny silver teaspoon. 

"I lent you only 2 serving spoons. Why are you giving me this teaspoon as well?"

"Apparently, one of the spoons was pregnant and, in the course of the night, it gave birth. I figure that this rightfully belongs to you."

A few weeks later, the request to borrow a bronze platter was made. With less hesitance than previously, the loan was made. The platter was returned, along with a saucer and with a similar explanation of how it came to be.

When the request to borrow candlesticks came, the loan was instantaneous.

A week later, the borrower came empty-handed explaining that the candlesticks had died in the night.

What could the man say?

So it is with my life. Why do I only accept the things that I like as being the way they are supposed to be?

This week's spiritual advice: 
Contemplate our egocentricity with regard to the unfolding of reality. "

{B’shert, (Yiddish: באַשערט), is a Yiddish word that means “destiny”.

4 comments:

Ellen said...

Great story and so true (I've signed up for these biscuits too:))
Faith is the most tangible when times get rough and the only prayer on our lips is to be held by God and not a plea to solve our problems
Beautiful post Catherine

Unknown said...

Aww thank you so much Ellen! Great you'll love 'wisdom biscuits'! Rabbi Brian is such a down to earth smart man. He is a school teacher and such a open minded straight talkin man with lots of wisdom.
' Faith is the most tangible when times get rough and the only prayer on our lips is to be held by God and not a plea to solve our problems. ' Now that's a wisdom biscuit! Thank you Ellen!

thesycamoretree said...

What a fantastic post, story and message behind it! The idea of blind hope makes me think of the Buddhist view. Many people think this view holds that you shouldn't hold hope, but what they actually mean is hope that has already achieved a form ("for me to be happy, I need it to look like this"). Now I'm going to run off and check on those biscuits... :)

Unknown said...

Thank you very much Bev. It makes me happy to be able to share Rabbi Brian's wisdom biscuits and his site. You can never have too many of those kinds of biscuits! Lol <3