Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 214): Taking Stock of the Past - Mesillas Yesharim

good morning it should be a good morning for cl should he yes please help yourself to coffee and donuts as we continue 10 minutes of meaning our study our learning of helping us chart our course to a better and best version of ourselves this morning Su minut of meaning is dedicated in honor of the urite of my grandma my grandmother Rose Goldberg Ro Shalom DAV today's aite very special woman to whom we owe everything uh we are still looking for a series sponsor for 10 minutes of meaning for this year please be in touch if you are open to it we're at the end of per of chapter 24 the defining has been reminding us that we have to have faith not only in God but faith in that what he says matters means something and we're held accountable there are consequences we live with Aus on the one hand we live with a sense of all for God's greatness not the we don't look around and say about everything but the we see the magnificence we see the Mina we see the sophistication we see how Hashem orchestrates everything from above we're simply Blown Away we feel a sense a deep sense a profound sense of all but we also live with the healthy do that hem tells us how to behave and what to do he has expectations of us and he holds us accountable for it is talked about that the that second form of fear reflects in two ways on the one hand in the present and the future we have to maintain a healthy sense of fear I mentioned last week we want our children to have a healthy fear so that they drive as if they just got their license we want to live not recklessly dangerously but we want to live with a healthy sense of boundaries and a fear and the same is true in our religious life and our spiritual life we should live with a mindfulness and a consciousness of how much we can lose if we make one mistake if we look or say or listen or choose the wrong thing we can throw so much away our relationships interpersonally our relationship with Hashem and that awareness with a healthy not debilitating fear but a healthy protective fear helps protect our present and our future but continues when we talk about the we should constantly be in a state of self-reflection about what we've done the year and to think about what if I did the wrong thing what if I said the wrong thing what if I made the wrong decision what will the impact be tells us that b would offer a carbon is a guilt offering when you have a suff when you have an uncertainty whether you've made a mistake whether you've done something wrong he evaluated every day thinking about his immediate past what if possibly did I make a mistake similarly of to looked at his life constantly with the awareness of I need to evaluate now why do we do that how do we understand this comment of the I thought we're not supposed to perseverate on our past I thought that can paralyze and be debilitating I thought that Torah teaches that we should take responsibility for the past learn about it for the future but not get stuck there it's not a dimension that we can change what happened happened well you can only change the presence the moment the present the moment that we're in right now has a beautiful idea how do we praise hem when we live in a state of I'm not stuck in the past you know who was stuck in the past we just read a couple weeks ago Lo's wife she turned around and she nostalgically longed for the days of sto or she felt such guilt and shame for having been connected but the fact that she turned around and was staring at sadome she turned into a pillar of salt Salt's a preservative salt makes you stick and stay the way you were so we're not supposed to look at the past and get stuck we're supposed to learn from it and turn to the Future so how can the endorse be constantly in a state of mindfulness and awareness of evaluation and reflection of what you did so the answer simply is the is not saying get stuck in a way that we beat ourselves up in a way that we knock ourselves down he's saying the only way we can live our best in our present and our future is to have a sense of personal responsibility and accountability for our past the person who simply dismisses the past who feels let bygones be bygones who refuses to take A's responsibility for it can't be their best selves in the present and the future and we see this among our great leaders when MOS and Aon regarding the the anointing oil andon were worried maybe they didn't prepare this anointing oil maybe they didn't apply it in the most proper wayos tells us that mosha was worried about this and he said maybe I desecrated maybe I profane maybe I violated this anointing oil what if a Heavenly voice went out and said mosha relax mosha don't worry mosha stop fretting and fearing what you did was right what you did was righteous you're good to go you have nothing to worry about that took care of Moshe but Aon continued to be concerned yeah the Heavenly voice exonerated him my brother what about me so Heavenly voice went out and said you're good mosha is good both brothers are good relax when it comes to righteous people Moshe and Aon they were worried they were reflecting and evaluating they wanted to take responsibility maybe we made a mistake not to get stuck in the past but how could that impact and influence the presents and the future now it's important to point out the Heavenly voice went out a basal divine intervention was not to exonerate them was not to prove their righteousness to the masses there weren't suspicious people who were accusing mosan Aron in other context there were but here there weren't suspicious Spectators who were accusing moan Aon of getting it wrong it was mosan on themselves that means the Heavenly voice went out not to defend their honor among the masses but simply to relieve the fear of mosha and Aron themselves but the model of looking at our lives and saying what if maybe I'm not right and maybe I'm not righteous and how can I take responsibility that is the model that we follow follow with this we finish per we are in the home stretch we're almost there that also when he rescued his nephew he was worried maybe he didn't get entirely right to which it says said in the war to defend Lo maybe I killed an innocent person maybe I didn't make all the right choices and decisions himself said don't worry so somebody who is coming from the right perspective a healthy and productive perspective the Heavenly voice says for came easily but every righteous person every should work to take on this quality of not a quality that beats ourselves up or makes us riddled with a paralyzing shame but a quality of personal responsibility personal reflection a healthy fear that maybe we got something wrong a fear that will create the boundaries that'll help us be the most right we continue with living with Thea in 15 minutes