Every day for the past 3 years I have shown up to write and honored my commitment to publish to this blog.
In a couple of weeks I’ll mark a 5-year milestone for daily meditation practice and 7 years of a daily gratitude practice.
I’ve started every day with a workout for over 7 years.
Contrary to popular belief and myth, showing up for these practices every day does not get easier with time.
In fact, sometimes it feels harder. When I’m looking for results and not seeing any fruits of my efforts, I start to question whether I’m wasting my energy on an impossible endeavor.
Why even bother?
Rabbi Benjamin Blech writes that this is the lesson from the Maccabees this is a question at the center of the Chanukah story.
Why did the Maccabees bother to go to battle against the Greeks, a force that would seem to be more powerful than they were? Why would they even bother to light the menorah in the Temple, knowing that they only had enough for one night? Why light it only to have it burn out?
Why even bother lighting the lights if darkness was inevitable?
This inquiry feels very potent for me sometimes.
What’s the point?
Rabbi Blech offers that the secret of the Maccabees’ success was that they were not deterred by the seemingly impossible nature of their effort.
No matter how bad the situation, no matter how impossible the probability of success, we begin the task — and optimistically have confidence in God to somehow make our efforts prove fruitful….
As he explains, it’s not just about hoping for a miracle, or, in Law of Attraction language, trying to manifest an outcome.
We must play an active role in miracles.
Our part is the miracle of faith.
As Rabbi Blech explains:
God performs miracles — but only after we perform our part, the miracle of faith which compels us to embark on a seemingly lost cause and to have confidence in ultimate success for an impossible dream guaranteed only by our firm belief in the Almighty.
So this is why I bother. By showing up, I’m strengthening my muscle of faith, doing my part of the miracle.
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