Every Turn Counts
Good Morning Everybody,
All right, let’s talk lightbulbs… specifically, the simple act of putting in a new one. (One of the very few handyman tasks I’ve actually mastered.) So, after you remove the old bulb, you place the new one in the socket and then start turning, and turning, and turning… and turning and turning, and …..nothing. Because you’re only about half way done and you gotta stop because your arm feels like it’s about to fall off. So you give it a little shake– get the blood circulating again– and then get back to turning, and turning and TA-DA! Yay! The light finally comes on!
And that’s how you change a lightbulb. Or… is that really how you change yourself?
Think about it. We keep turning and turning and turning, constantly trying to turn ourselves into a more illuminated version of ourselves. But what commonly happens is we don’t see any improvement! Nothing’s changing and it feels like we’re just going around in circles! And it’s frustrating. We start thinking “What’s the use?! Nothing’s happening? Should I just quit?”
No! We know that’s just our yetzer hara messin’ with us. So we shake it off and keep turning and turning and turning and then, without any warning: The light goes on! Thank G-d! Success! We see that we HAVE made progress. We HAVE changed. Maybe just a little, but that’s okay. We’re not the same person.
Friends, in our quest to improve a rocky relationship, a faulty character trait, a negative attitude or self-defeating behavior, it might help to keep this lightbulb analogy in mind.
Even though we may not see any progress, the difference between darkness and light can be just ONE TINY TURN AWAY. Just one more tiny millimeter’s worth of effort can make all the difference! And it’s also important to keep in mind that even before that bulb illuminates, WE ARE STILL MAKING PROGRESS. We might not notice it, but just like a new lightbulb rises higher into the socket with each turn, we too are elevating ourselves with every bit of effort we put forth. Even though the light bulb is still dark, we’ve already started to shine.
So if we ever feel like we’re just “spinning in circles,” let’s remember that our efforts are never in vain. Every turn lifts us higher, and G-d willing we’ll soon discover that we’re just one tiny turn away from seeing the light.
Have an illuminating day everybody,
Marshall
Keep on Building! (And Turning!)
Follow DOJLife.com
Support DOJLife.com