An Old Story

Late in the winter, as I was getting sick, I decided to begin reading Psalms everyday on my way to work. For a few minutes, I could learn, study and elevate myself before the real work of the day began.

I felt this was a great way to acquaint myself with a body of knowledge I had never studied, brush up my Hebrew and raise up my spirits from what I felt was a work atmosphere characterized by poverty of leadership, jealousy, destructive gossip, backstabbing, etc. etc. ITall order, hmm?

Looking back, I realize I was expecting some pay off, once I completed my self-assigned assignment.

But, I had forgotten the story of IrishGirl.

Many years ago in Jerusalem, after I had left, one of my closest friends, IrishGirl, became very observant of Jewish religion and custom, a status called in Hebrew, hozer b'tshuva.

Like all of us, IrishGirl wanted to marry. To make her dreams come true, she was advised by a religious individual to pray a certain psalm or religious passage for a month. So IrishGirl prayed.

She also did a daily check of her skin, a long-held practice. But at the end of her 30 days, she had not met anyone new.

Instead, she found a lump on her breast. A lumpectomy was performed followed by chemo. She lost her hair, was cancer free and at 36, infertile, unmarried, and still alone.

IrishGirl went on to many more exciting adventures and now runs a successful daycare center outside London, a long-held dream realized.

So today's hackneyed lesson children is:

Focus on the journey, not the desired results.