The Hour of Greatness

Anybody that forces the hour, the hour forces him back. But anybody that surrenders to the hour, the hour surrenders to him. -Talmud, Berachot 64a
 
Have you ever felt something significant missing in your life?
 
Have you ever felt that you are supposed to have something, be something, or accomplish something already? Have you ever had a feeling that something so important is missing that it feels like a part of your body isn’t attached?
 
That could be your hour of greatness.
 
Everybody has greatness within them. Each of us has a mission to fulfill. All of us receive a time in our lives when we become empowered to advance on all of our dreams and realize them. These are times when nothing can go wrong – all the chances we take turn out better than we could imagine. There are the periods when we feel on top of the world.
 
This is the hour of greatness. The question is, what will we do with it when it arrives? How will we know to make the most of it when it comes? This “hour” can last a day. It can last for a month. It can last for decades, from the time we receive our hour to the final one we spend in this world. Given that life itself has its own time limits, how do we not force the hour, but let it come?
 
We spend every moment preparing for it.
 
If someone told me that on a particular morning I would receive $100 million, I would want that morning to come tomorrow. If my hour wasn’t slated to happen for another decade, what do I do in the meantime? What do any of us do?
 
We ask ourselves – what would I do with my newfound resources? Then we ask – what weaknesses of mine will get in the way, or even prevent me from following through on what I always intended? Where in my personality must I become super strong to resist temptations in order to fulfill my goals? Then we get to work. Up to and including zero hour, we accept all of the day to day challenges with the attitude that this could be our time. We approach all successes as a test for this precious hour. We work on ourselves so diligently that when the time comes we will be ready. The tests will not seem difficult at all. The changes will appear on the outside of our existence, and not on the inside where it really counts.
 
Who we become at every moment determines exactly who we are when the big moment arrives.
 
If a man focuses on his career as a stock broker from age 22, never growing in anything more than his ability to buy and sell shares, when he is handed his opportunity at say, 35 years, what will he do? Will he have more in his possession at age 40than 30 beer bottles from 30 cities across the world?
 
What about a fellow stockbroker who was constantly works on his emuna? What about a person who spend his days focusing on kindness, charity, re-channeling his physical and emotional lusts towards the service of Hashem? What happens when he receives his opportunity? How does he look back from 40? Does he pick up the phone to speak to his latest girlfriend, or does he listen to a progress report from his Rabbi about the new Outreach program launched with his Tzedaka?
 
If he wasn’t constantly working on himself for the 13 years leading up to his moment, the moment would have buried him. Because he bowed before the hour – focusing on his daily preparation for it, the hour enabled him to accomplish his mission.
 
In this existence our moments come and go. One day we are on top of a mountain and the next we are at the bottom of a valley. The efforts we make to maximize the potential of every moment and prepare for not only our great hour in this world, but the awesome hour of judgment for our life in the Next world, brings great Divine Light to all mankind. This is the one true constant to achieving results at every hour of life.
 
 
* * *
Dovber Halevi is the author of Sex, Religion, and the Middle East, a book about personal holiness and happiness. He lives in Israel with his wife and three children.