Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Daily Advice. This is the last session of the season. First of all, thank you so much for a wonderful summer. Thank God, you tolerated me—even though it was very difficult, I know. Just ask my wife.
Today we chose the final topic of the season. We will begin again on Monday in Brooklyn, and the topic is the idea of a match or connection.
I do not know why I chose this topic for the final session, but perhaps it is because this idea does not refer only to the connection between a husband and wife. It refers to everything that you encounter in your life. Everything you encounter in life is sent to you by the Borei Olam in order to enhance your life, test you, test your resolve, and make you a stronger person. It may also be that you have been given an opportunity to help someone else. That is why the Borei Olam sends everything your way.
Perhaps this is the final topic of the season because the Borei Olam sent all of you to me on some level and for some reason. Some people are still trying to figure out why—I am only joking. But everything that you encounter in life has to be understood as having been sent by the Borei Olam.
Therefore, a person should pray to Hashem every day: “Borei Olam, please let me know why. Why was this person sent to me?” This person came to ask me for a favor—why was he sent to me? This person is my wife—why am I encountering certain things with my wife today? What about the things that come up with your children, the teachers you have to speak with, an administrator, or a buyer? Every person who comes your way has been sent by the Borei Olam for a reason.
There is something you have to accomplish or attain. Whatever comes your way has been set aside for you and for your opportunity. A person should always pray, as they say, about everything—and especially when things are good. A person’s life takes him in different directions, so he should anticipate whatever may happen.
I pray to the Borei Olam and say: “I know that everything I encounter is for a good reason. You sent it to me because there is something I have to accomplish or attain. But please tell me why. Let me know why. Please help me have the ability, strength, energy, and optimism to overcome the situation and do with it what I am supposed to do. Help me succeed. Help me persevere.” This is something a person has to pray for all the time, because you do not know what is going to come your way. You have no idea what is going to come your way.
I have no idea what is going to come into my path today. I have no idea what I will encounter while driving, or whether there will be heavy traffic. Everything happens for a reason.
Let me tell you an interesting story. Somebody was supposed to come here to learn in New Jersey, but he told me that he had decided he would not be able to come because he had a circumcision ceremony in Brooklyn. So the man went to the circumcision ceremony in Brooklyn, but there was no ceremony there. The ceremony was in New Jersey, so he could have come to the ceremony and he could have come to learn.
Now the person is trying to figure out why the Borei Olam made him go all the way to Brooklyn when there was nothing there for him. That is what happens. A person’s life is filled with activity, and that activity should be good activity all the time. That is why you have to pray: “Borei Olam, please give me clarity. Give me clarity.”
I will conclude with one idea. We know that everything that comes your way is anticipated and preordained by the Borei Olam based on who you are at that moment, where you are, where you are going to be, and who you are.
First, I have to understand that I get to choose my trajectory. That means I am going to choose my mindset. If my mindset is to be a follower and to go along with whatever direction is in front of me, then the people I encounter will be in that sphere. If I decide to go in a particular direction, the people I encounter will be in that direction. If I decide to lower myself and be with people who may not be the greatest people, then the people I encounter will be in that realm.
Of course, what I decide will determine who I am. I decide what league I am in, and based on that, the Borei Olam determines whom I will meet, whom I will encounter, and what I will meet and encounter.
May the Borei Olam give us a wonderful year in which we encounter only happy and good things, with abundance and blessing. May Hashem bless you and help us. Amen, amen, amen.