Nine Gifts Amongst Life’s Thorns
When you're able to treat the trying situations of your life as precious gifts designed to enhance your spiritual and emotional growth, then you're...
When you're able to treat the trying situations of your life as precious gifts designed to enhance your spiritual and emotional growth, then you're well on the way to inner peace.
Nine commonly concealed gifts amongst life's thorns
Gift number one: Rescue from death
Sergeant Sammy Adler, USMC, crouched shin-deep in the mud of the Vietnamese jungle less than a mile from the Laotian border. The Vietcong had been smuggling massive amounts of armaments into South Vietnam by way of Laos. His company's mission was to ambush the smugglers, confiscate the arms shipment, and capture whomever they could for interrogation.
An annoying mosquito buzzed in Sammy's ear, and a leech bit his wrist. He didn't dare slap himself, for the slightest noise could reveal his position to an enemy ambush. The mission therefore called for radio silence, which necessitated the three platoons of Company C to maintain eye contact with each other.
A heavy dawn mist descended on the jungle. The fog was so thick that Sammy barely saw Captain John Willis, his company commander, from a distance of three feet. Willis scribbled a note and passed it to Sammy: "Platoon B, 0800, green east."
Sammy looked at his watch and nodded in understanding. His orders were to crawl over to Platoon B, one hundred yards to the right, and to inform the platoon leader that at exactly eight a.m., all three platoons would leave their present position and approach the Laotian border due east of them.
Sammy slithered inch by inch in the mud. His life depended on his absolute silence. He looked at his watch again – five minutes after seven. He took a deep breath and continued, first an elbow, then a knee, another elbow, then another knee. He stopped dead in his tracks: A roundish brown object, the exact size and shape of antipersonnel mine, was right before his nose.
The "mine", none other than a turtle, stuck its head out and laughed in Sammy's face, and then crawled away nonchalantly. He exhaled deeply in relief, and continued in the direction of Platoon B.
Forty-five minutes expired; Sammy wiped the mud off the face of his watch, and read the time – ten minutes to eight. The fog lifted, but a heavy rain drenched the already saturated jungle.
All along the seemingly endless one hundred yards to Platoon B's position, Sammy kept track of his crawling pace. He counted four hundred movements of nine inches each, the equivalent of one hundred yards. He should have reached Platoon B by now, but saw nothing other than mud and jungle.
A minute before eight: What a mess, Sammy thought. In sixty seconds, Platoons A and C will be moving east, and Platoon B hasn't been informed yet. Where on earth is Platoon B? Where the heck am I?
"Chikachikachik! Chikachikachik!" The cobra's forked tongue almost touched Sammy's nose. The snake snarled, exposing his two deadly fangs, and braced to an attack position.
Sammy froze – he thought that the pounding of his pulse could surely be heard for miles away. In a few split seconds, he envisioned his entire life flashing before his eyes. What a pathetic way to go, he lamented, killed by a cobra in the muck and mire of a Vietnamese jungle, ten thousand miles from home. He couldn't ask the cobra for a stay of execution until he had a chance to send a postcard to Mom and Dad.
Sammy's M-16 rifle lay in a futile silence beside him. His commando knife remained idle in its scabbard, as did the three assault grenades in his ammo belt. He didn't dare move a muscle. Beads of salty sweat from his forehead traversed his right eyebrow and then dripped down and stung his right eye. Wiping his forehead was out of the question.
Jungle survival school taught him that only a bronze statue lives through an encounter with an irate cobra. I'm a bronze statue, Sammy thought to himself; I'm a bronze statue.
"Chikachikachik! Chikachikachik!" The cobra continued with his head cocked in a foreboding assault position. The snake locked itself like a statue – only its tongue darted periodically to and fro.
The cobra was massive – eight, maybe nine feet long and no less than eight inches thick. It maintained direct eye contact with Sammy. An entire hour transpired, then another hour.
Eventually, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. The sun was in the treetops directly overhead, indicating that the time was approximately twelve noon. Sammy heard the staccato of machine-gun fire and the thuds of mortar shells in the distance. The snake wouldn't let Sammy budge; it had been holding the exhausted, nerve-shattered Marine at bay for four hours already.
Every muscle in Sammy's body cried out in pain. His neck was as stiff as granite, his fatigues were soaked, and the unbearable winter dampness seemed to chill the fibers of his soul.
Another two hours passed. Each minute was a trial of a lifetime. Sammy kept thinking to himself, "One more minute, one more minute. I'm still alive. Hold on, Adler, one more minute! You can stick it out for another minute. Thank you, God, for letting me live another minute."
God? When did He come on the scene? Sammy surprised himself. He never prayed in his life. His parents never practiced any form of religion, even though his grandparents were religious Jews. Sammy Adler was raised American – baseball, apple pie, The Marine Corp, and nothing else.
The snake seemed to alter its facial expression from threat to understanding. The minute Sammy thought about God, he could have sworn that the snake nodded its head, as if to say, "You're correct, soldier!" At that very instant, the snake uncocked its head, performed a perfect West Point "at ease" and "about face", and slithered away to the thick of the jungle.
Sammy's head dropped like a two-ton anchor. He broke out in a cathartic sob, and his entire body shuddered for a good five minutes, releasing the pent-up tension from within. He looked at his watch – seventeen hundred hours, or five in the afternoon.
Who could ever believe it? A U.S. Marine had just been held for nine hours in the custody of a nine-foot cobra. Were it not for his aching muscles and the leech bites all over his body, he wouldn't have believed it himself.
After several minutes of massaging his legs, he was able to stand. He didn't have much time, for nightfall was less than an hour away. The last nine hours felt like nine years.
Sammy, a superb navigator, began walking in the direction of the company bivouac – exhausted mentally and physically, but alive. He arrived at the clearing by the river, less than a half mile from his company's ambush position, and received the shock of his life: Captain John Willis and the Marines of Company C's three platoons were slaughtered to the last man in a counter-ambush.
The realization of the miracle hit Sergeant Sammy Adler like a ton of bricks: The Almighty had sent a gigantic cobra to guard over him. Were it not for the cobra, he would have returned to his company's position and would have been slaughtered too. Nine hours of unimaginable stress and suffering, with a deadly cobra staring him in the face, turned out to be the blessing of his life, a divine revelation in the jungles of South Vietnam, February 1969[1].
Gift number two: Enhanced spiritual development
A good athlete knows that suffering strengthens character and pain makes gain. No one can expect to become a champion sprinter or weightlifter without sacrifice, dedication, perseverance, and aching muscles. Becoming a champion is no easy route.
The laws of the physical world apply to the spiritual world as well. One cannot hope to make spiritual gain without effort.
The principle of tribulations designed to enhance one's spiritual development recurs throughout the Bible. Avraham (Abraham), the first Hebrew, suffered scorn and ridicule his entire life because of his steadfast devotion to God and monotheism. He was forced to withstand endless insults, humiliation, and threats on his life. He alone carried the torch of monotheism amidst a hostile heathen world. Avraham withstood ten severe tribulations, aimed to test his belief and trust in God. His son Yitzchak (Isaac), suffered likewise, and his grandson Yaakov (Jacob) was tested to the limits of human capability. As such, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov were groomed to become the fathers of monotheism and to serve as role models for their descendents throughout history, who would be faced with trials and tribulations of their own.
Yosef (Joseph), the son of Yaakov, was scorned and humiliated by his brothers and sold as a slave to the Egyptians. From the depths of his turmoil, he arose as one of the holiest righteous men that ever walked the earth.
The annals of Dovid Hamelech (King David), from the circumstances of his birth to his last day on earth, are one long, unpaved road of humiliation, degradation, and suffering. He was the object of incessant derision from both sides of the border – from jealous elements within his people, and from his enemies on the frontier. Even his sons plotted to overthrow him. We ask ourselves, why does the Almighty put His most beloved son – Dovid, the anointed king – to such endless suffering?
Had Dovid Hamelech never suffered from degradation and humiliation, he could never have attained the spiritual depth that enabled him to write the Sefer Tehillim, the Book of Psalms, the greatest and most spiritually strengthening collection of prayers ever written in history. Dovid Hamelech, like his forefathers Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, could honestly say (Tehillim 23:4), "Though I walk through the valley of death, I shall fear no evil for You [God] are with me, Your rod and your staff – they comfort me."
Scripture cannot be learned at face value. A closer look at the above passage from the Psalms reveals the entire notion of the difficult, seemingly bad times in life.
Dovid Hamelech declares to God, "Your rod and your staff – they comfort me". "Staff" is a leaning stick, like the cane that an old man leans on. As such, "staff" symbolizes the comforting presence of God, which Dovid Hamelech could lean on during all his troubled times. "Rod" symbolizes the punishment stick. Dovid Hamelech in effect says to God, "Whether You console me and resemble a staff, or whether You torment me and resemble a rod, I am comforted by Your presence." Such a righteous man knows the value of the "rod", which is nothing other than the seemingly bad.
Dovid Hamelech, as a three-year old shepherd, killed both a lion and a bear that threatened his flocks. As a twelve year old, he killed the giant Philistine warrior Goliath. Dovid remained undaunted. Only one thought scared him: "Don't cast me away from you, God, and don't remove your spirit of holiness from me" (ibid. 51:13). Dovid Hamelech's only fear in life was losing the proximity of God.
Just as a gold-medal Olympic sprinter cannot be a world champion without supreme effort, Dovid Hamelech could not have become God's anointed, the head of the messianic dynasty, and role model for subsequent generations to this day, without the many arduous experiences in his life.
When you're able to treat the trying situations of your life as precious gifts designed to enhance your spiritual and emotional growth, then you're well on the way to inner peace.
Gift number three: The "distancing principle" – the gift of proximity to God
Life's difficulties often exemplify the "distancing principle", as follows: When a baby takes his or her first steps, the parent moves a step back. That way, the baby makes an additional effort to take another stride and to reach the parent. The parent doesn't move away from the baby as an act of hate, heaven forbid. The contrary holds true, for when a parent steps back, the baby's longing for the parent is intensified. Therefore, the baby will invest maximal effort to taking an additional step. If the baby stumbles, the parent's open arms are never too far away to prevent a fall.
As such, the "distancing principle" is utilized in parenthood as an act of love, to facilitate a baby's first steps. We are all spiritual babies who – consciously or not, because of the divine souls within us – long for our Father in Heaven. When we try to get close to God, God uses the "distancing principle", and seemingly rejects us by sending us some type of suffering. If we remember to focus our thoughts on God during the emotional challenge of a difficult tribulation, and remind ourselves that He's always near to cushion a fall, we weather the situation with composure. When we don't lose our wits under pressure, we function successfully in highest-stress situations.
Drill sergeants and athletic coaches use the "distancing principle" to train competent combat soldiers and winning athletes. They can't be "nice" to their trainees. The apparent cruelty of a commander is actually compassion for the soldier in training. An old infantry expression says, "Sweat in maneuvers saves blood in battle", or, "the harder the training, the easier the war." The seemingly bad – the rigor and stress of training – is designed for the ultimate good – to save lives.
Any military instructor or athletic coach must make extreme demands on his trainees in order to build champions. The training of an elite soldier is far more difficult than standard training. Much more is demanded from a Marine or a Green Beret than from a cook or a mail clerk. Likewise, those privileged few who withstand severe tests in life are like the Almighty's Special Forces. The Almighty puts them through special training to enhance their character development.
Character development leads to spiritual growth. Spiritual growth enables a person to get closer to God. Proximity to God means more Divine light. The more Divine light a person absorbs, the holier his or her soul becomes. The holier a person becomes, the more he or she finds eternal happiness and tranquility of the soul.
Tranquility of the soul leads to more spiritual growth, and so forth. This wonderful spiritual upward spiral would be impossible without life's thorn bushes, which generate one's best effort at character development.
To be continued…
(The Trail to Tranquility is available in the Breslev Store.)
[1] After his discharge from the Marines, Sammy set out on his own journey to spirituality, which took him to Hawaii, the Far East, the Himalayas, and ultimately to Israel. I heard Sammy's story first hand, when we were both guests on the same radio program.
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