Grabbing Eternity | Rabbi Meir Simcha Sperling

Rabosai, I want to share with you an unbelievable Mashal that I saw Beshem the Chafetz Chaim, that we could perhaps apply to Shemiras Einayim that could give us a lot of power in our battle against the Yetzer Hara. And the Mashal goes like this: There was once a farmer, a simple farmer, who decided that he wants to sell all of his stalks, all of his bundles, everything he has to one specific wholesaler. So the wholesaler says: No problem. Listen, in order for us not to be confused and not to get mixed up and lost in the numbers, and then this and then that, let's put a bowl on the table and every time you give me a bundle, we're going to put a penny in or a quarter, whatever coin that we have on us. We’ll make sure to have coins. And after we're done, after a few days of counting everything, we'll just count the quarters, count the pennies, and then for each penny, I'll give you the price of the bundle. Let's say $100, $200 per bundle. Each penny will be worth $100. And like this, we'll be able to make the Cheshbon properly. Okay, so they start counting, the bundle start coming and it's gevaldig. And meanwhile, the entire time the farmer is looking at that bowl and he sees quarters just piling up and he's like: Wow, this is... it's a lot of money. So that's already $3 right there, that's $4, this is before inflation, a lot of money over here. And he's like, you know, if only I could steal a little bit of the quarters, that'd be cool. I mean, but the wholesaler is going to see me. Okay, I'm not going to do it. You know, I got this and that. After more days, more bundles, you know, it starts getting even higher. And he's like, you know, if I can really just grab... And all of a sudden, his Yetzer Hara got the best of him. He took his hand, he stuck it in, while the wholesaler was looking the other way, grabbed a whole bunch of quarters, put it in his pocket and just smiled and said: Nothing happened here, guys. Says the Chafetz Chaim, I mean, come on, this guy's... You got to be completely crazy. Each one of those quarters is worth so much more. If you just wait till the end and you realize what type of investment it is. I mean, forget about stealing. If you just wait. That's not worth a quarter. That's worth $100. That's just literally a ticket. It's like a number to remember how many bundles you have. Says the Chafetz Chaim: In life, a lot of times we forget about the investment later on and we think if we could just do something more now, we could gain so much more. Lemashal by Shemiras Einayim, you’re walking down the street and there's about to be something. You see something that I think I should look down. Or you don't have to look down, you could look and you grab a quarter. Oh, wow, that was so cool, amazing, wow. And your תאוה was filled and that's it, it’s over. You just grabbed a quarter when you could have literally saved and made an investment. Hashem says: Don't do that. Hashem says: Look down, control yourself. You are going to be gaining so much more later on. Don't grab the pennies when you could be grabbing eternity. So Rabosai, when you are challenged with Shemiras Einayim just remember you can grab eternity, but you need to wait and you need to work because it doesn't come right away. Good luck, Rabosai.