“We can’t stop the waves, but we can learn how to surf!”

When God finishes creation and declares it "very good" (Genesis 1:31), the Hebrew is: וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהִנֵּה-טוֹב מְאֹד. Hasidism is not a self-help teaching. On the contrary, it is one of self-transcendence. To transcend the self, the question then, “To whom am I grateful? Or to what?” We turn to the One who created us; the One where all love, strength and power come from. Transcendence from the limits of self opens us to what becomes our spiritual journey. Today, I take time to step back from the rush of life to fully transcend the self, and to embrace joy with an open and grateful heart.

As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day, 'Thy will be done.'

Once I am "born of the spirit," that is my life's breath; the life that down the ages has kept God's children through peril, adversity, and sorrow. I must try never to doubt or worry but follow where the life of the spirit leads. How often, when little I know it, God goes before me to prepare the way, to soften a heart, or to overrule a resentment. As the life of the spirit grows, natural wants become less important. I pray that my life may become centered in God more than in self. I pray that my will may be directed toward doing His will.