Meeting Princess Diana - Part 2

The job of a King is to rule, legislate and lead the people. But the essence of royalty or kingship, is that the monarch “provides” for and gives to his or her subjects. God, as King, provides us with everything—eyesight, food, oxygen and brainpower, and so on with which we can journey through life. That is why G-d is called the “King of Kings”.  He is the Ultimate Provider-of life itself. In return, we are invited to feel and express gratitude to God.

If you were to make a list of the ten things with which you could not possibly live without—isn’t it true that most or all of the items on your list have been given to us by a Higher Authority? Go on. Write your list. I’ll wait. Isn’t it true that this list is comprised of things that you did not create yourself, rather that came from beyond you.

Now, the next step in the gratitude process is to enter into a dialogue with God.

Me: “Why have You given me all of these wonderful things, God?”

God: “Because I love you.”

Me:  “You have time to think about and provide for tiny, insignificant me?”

God: “You are very significant to me because I created you.”

Me:  “What do You want in return?”

God: “Just say, ‘thank you.’”

Me:  “Thank You.”

Gratitude is the basic building block of any relationship. True, it implies that we are indebted to someone for giving to us. However, in that acknowledgment of indebtedness, a bond—known as a relationship—is created. And God wants a relationship with each of us.

There is a story told of a Chassidic rabbi who was about to blow the shofar (a ram’s horn) on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Everyone in the synagogue readied himself and herself for this solemn moment, for the sounds of the shofar to act as a spiritual alarm clock to wake us up and inspire us to get our act together and to become more active in our spiritual lives.

The rabbi stepped forward, and put the shofar to his lips… then stepped back. He did not sound the shofar. He tried again. He stepped forward and put the shofar to his lips. The people leaned closer in anticipation… but the rabbi stepped back again. He tried one more time but simply could not bring himself to conduct the ceremony.

 “I cannot blow the shofar until our good friend Jacob comes forward and tells us his story.”

Jacob, a six-foot-five, twenty-two-year-old, rabbinical student, stepped forward awkwardly.

“Jacob,” said the Rabbi, “you recently got married to Hannah, is that right?”

“Yes, Rabbi,” answered Jacob shyly.

“I cannot blow the shofar on this holy day until you tell us a very important thing. Tell us, when you speak to your new wife, Hannah, how do you speak to her?”

“Well,” said Jacob, “I am six-feet-five inches tall and my dear wife Hannah is four-feet-eleven inches tall. When I speak to Hannah I have to bend down to speak to her.”

“Don’t leave out the most important part,” pleaded the rabbi. “If you don’t tell us what Hannah does when you bend down to speak to her, then I cannot proceed to blow the shofar.”

The people of the congregation strained and moved closer to hear Jacob’s words. He said: “Since I am so tall and Hannah is so short, when I bend down to speak to Hannah, she stands on her tiptoes to speak to me.”

“That’s it!” cried the Rabbi with delight. “Now I can blow the shofar. When I stepped forward to blow the ram’s horn, I thought to myself… God, like Jacob is so tall. And I, like Hannah, am so small. I couldn’t imagine that God, Who is so big, mighty and omniscient, could possibly care about my small insignificant act of blowing the shofar. Could He actually care about my tiny deeds? And so I could not bring myself to blow the shofar. But then I heard Jacob say that even though he is so tall when he bends down to speak to Hannah, Hannah stands on her tiptoes to speak to Jacob. She may not reach Jacob’s full height, but since she tries and he bends to hear, they connect.”

The rabbi explained, “God is six-foot-five and we are four-feet-eleven. He bends down and is interested in what we do. We are significant to Him. We cannot reach all the way to God, because He is so Great. But all He asks of us is to make an effort. We have to stand on our tiptoes and try to reach Him. If we try to reach up to Him, He will bend down to listen to what we have to say. When I realized this, I decided that I could ‘stand on my tiptoes’ by blowing the shofar.”And he did.

The first step in our relationship with God, then, is to recognize and to acknowledge that God, as King, cares about our actions, deeds, words and even our thoughts. He is the Royal Provider. The next step in the process is to recognize the royalty within us—within you and me. How? By acting like a king. If we act in a regal fashion by providing, caring for, encouraging, in effect “being there” for our spouse, kids, parents, neighbors, friends and community, then we will be acting like God, in His capacity as King or Provider.