The Lion, the Grape, and the Flower Path

Growth and trust in a state of hardship

In the buzz of inspiration I made a commitment that caused me great joy for the entire morning, but soon the harmony wore off and the heaviness of reality returned and now, so painfully so,  found me weighted down by a dream- a past had once manifested. I came to the Yishba with a sigh so strenuous, even a shattered vase wouldn’t understand. “I want it to work, I really do. God says to trust the path, to choose love, to dive in, to follow forward- but then I get stuck, and the life of the mundane gets harder. Like a mischievous mechanism set against me.”

He cut me off- his eyes widened in a way I don’t think I had ever seen before. A mystical blend of all colors yet somehow not dulled or gray in any way, rather sharp and whole like the sunlight.

“What is wrong with harder?” he said. If it’s hard- continue to choose love. You must believe, the whole you, that you are getting stronger. You are! This is the spiritual journey of Life. Listen to the words of the nazir, that say nothing, but do the secret.  

For the next forty days, I helped the Yishba gather three cups of water each morning and we walked carefully across the vineyard, as not to spill the water. We were barefoot too, so as not to wake the lion who guarded it. The Yishba told me that a lion is the king of the Jungle, and it takes a king to guard a vineyard. 

That the nazir dreams of grapes- and he doesn't want to dream anymore; he wants to break free from his head, and live in the real world. So he doesn't say ‘no’ to dreams- but says it’s time to stop with the fantasy and start breeding an actual vision into the field. 

Most people never do this, or worse, start pointing fingers, but the truth is, they just need to know something. People need to remember that it's ok when it's hard. If you feel out of place; if things seem to be going against your favor… How else does God suppose to align his brilliant plan with your habitual ways? 

You have to let go and let the pain pass through you. You have to walk through the vineyard even though you are terrified of the lion. The nazir puts away the dream of what could be and lets all the hair grow in, he lets nature speak for itself, God speaks for God’s all knowing self and he sobers up, finally into the drunkenness of a higher reality. 

The most interesting part? Each day when we arrived at the nazir’s cave, where his beard spanned the floor in a fifty foot filet of hair, the jugs were always empty. 

The nazir always smiled looking past us at the rows of the most beautiful, unimaginable, flowers that had taken place in the pathway that we had so slowly and trustfully traveled on.

                       Dearest friends, 
                             Have a beautiful Shabbos
                                         Love, 
                                         The Yishba's Assistant 

inspired by naso, the longest parsha in the torah.