A Midnight Lesson in Gratitude - Rabbi David Schlusselberg

On Monday night around midnight, there was an aggressive knock at my door. I was very startled. There aren't people that come to my house after like 8:00, let alone midnight. And I went to the door and I looked through and I saw two police officers standing there. Now I'm even more startled. I opened the door and the officer said, "Sir, a pipe burst right in front of your house. You need to move your cars. PSE&G are going to be coming here. They're going to be working on this all night." I looked out and there was a river of water. It didn't just go onto the sidewalk. It went probably about 10 to 15 ft into my driveway and there was tons of mud there, as well. I had to get our car keys, move the cars down the block. Now, of course, every person before going to bed and waking up, you need to wash your face, you need to brush your teeth, and we had no running water. Imagine turning the faucet and nothing comes. And especially in the morning, it's really when also you kind of forget about it when you're waking up in that haze and forget like, "Oh wait, I've no running water." It's just like such an important reminder to be grateful for what we have. Like when's the last time you appreciated that you could turn a faucet and water could come out of your sink. When's the last time you appreciated that? For me, it was this morning. Just thinking about how I know what it's like to not have running water. And it's important lesson to really just be appreciative for all the small things in life that we have.