image credit: Marcos Vasconcelos Photography
2012 is ending with
the whole world tensed for 'war' in once way or another. Here in the Middle
East, it's being fought with rockets and air planes; in other places, it's
being waged with guns and knives; in still other places, the battle is to stay
afloat financially, or to stay sane when the pressures are mounting daily.
Whatever war we happen to be fighting, or caught up in, there is only one way
to win it: we need to work on ourselves, and to fix what we need to fix, with
Hashem's help. Even when we find ourselves in the toughest times, and the
hardest circumstances, G-d is still very close to us. He's right here, ready to
listen to us at any moment, night and day. He wants to retract all the severity
and strictness that He's pumping out into the world. Let's remember that G-d's
main characteristic is love and kindness, but when we don't listen, then He has
to up the ante. The wake up calls get bigger and louder, until we all recognize
that if nothing changes, then nothing changes - and G-d forbid, then
everything could change very suddenly and dramatically, because we're refused
to respond to G-d's messages, or pay them any attention.
Every Blessing,
Dr. Zev Ballen