These are the journeys (Bamidbar 33:1)

It is summertime. It is a time for travel. It is a time for road trips!

When a road is built, it is usually built on a flat land. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Sometimes, though, there is a hill. Imagine being the car on a hill. The downhills are lots of fun. They are easy. The motor can relax and just let the tires roll as they follow the road down. Uphills, though, are much different. Uphills are a struggle. Ever have your car stall on an uphill? That’s because it is difficult. Why would anyone want to go uphill?

The reason to go uphill is because the person has a goal. The person wants to get somewhere and the only way to get there is by going uphill. Although it is difficult, the person goes uphill because he sees a purpose to it.

This is life. In life, there are many uphill battles. If we want to coast through life and only go on downhills, we can, but we will never have the satisfaction of accomplishing goals. We will never know greatness.

This past week was baseball’s all star game. How did these players get to be great? They may have been born with certain talents, but they still had to go up many hills. They had to work long hours to accomplish their goal. Their goal is to hit a ball 400 feet or throw a ball 100 mph. When you think about it, it’s not really important, but they can still teach us something.

We should have greater goals than throwing or hitting a baseball. The only way we can accomplish these goals is by journeying uphill. When we have a goal, we can see why there are uphills and we work to reach the top of the mountain.

Good Shabbos!
-y.e.s.
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