Rebuilding Series: Let’s Make 5782 A Mississippi River Kind Of Year. By Marshall Lestz

Rebuilding Series: Let’s Make 5782 A Mississippi River Kind Of Year. By Marshall Lestz

Good Morning Everybody, Shavua Tov,

During Hurricane Ida’s massive assault on various parts of the country, it actually caused part of the Mississippi River to flow backwards! Isn’t that incredible! For a few hours the river actually reversed course!

Perhaps this meteorological phenomenon could be helpful to keep in mind as we go into Rosh Hashana, just a few short hours from now. 

Each of us has so much potential; there’s so much greatness inside of us. And of course, we all have our battles…things that are holding us back. And our good ol’ yetzer hara (negative inclination) does a pretty impressive job of convincing us that we’ll never be successful in certain areas… It taunts us, “Why are you even trying? You know you can’t do it; you’ve failed before, you’ll fail again.” 

And sometimes we buy into these self-defeating thoughts. After all, some of the habits we want to break are deeply ingrained, some of our unpleasant character traits seem to be stuck in place, and some of our powerful tendencies continue to be extremely difficult to channel positively. We can mistakenly conclude that things will always be this way… They just are what they are. 

But if we ever notice ourselves thinking this way, two words to the rescue:

Mississippi. River.

If the mighty Mississippi can start flowing BACKWARDS, WE can change directions too! With Hashem’s help, anything is possible. Just because things have always flowed a certain way DOESN’T GUARANTEE they’ll continue that way! Undesired negative habits, character traits, and self-talk CAN BE REDIRECTED! With Hashem’s help, we can rise above our nature. 

If just days before Rosh Hashana the Mississippi River can flow BACKWARDS, we can change course too! 

So let’s go into Rosh Hashana convinced that we can change for the good, and be willing to put forth the consistent effort it requires. G-d willing, when Hashem sees us sincerely return to Him, He’ll give us the help that we need to “turn back” any of the behaviors, attitudes and habits that we long to  change. 

Shanah Tovah Everybody!

Marshall

And remember:  i-p-p-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-m gonna Keep on Building!