Rebbe Nachman, the holy master, says, in order to serve G-d you have to learn, you have to know, three lessons.

 

The first lesson is that you must learn how to walk, and you must learn how to stand.  When you do a mitzvah, when you do something good, you’re walking in G-d’s ways.  When you’re praying, you stand before the Only One.  But only those who are walking know how to stand, and only those who are standing know how to walk.  This is the first lesson.

 

The second lesson is a bit harder: learn how to fall and how to get up.  If you are falling, don’t be sad; you know G-d is teaching you how to get up.  If you don’t fall, how can the One, the Only One, teach you how to get up? So when you’re falling, let your heart be filled with joy, because the Only One, who knows and can teach you, is showing you how to get up.

 

The third lesson is the hardest:  I have a feeling that this lesson is about you and me, about all of us.  What do you do when you’re falling, and you can’t get up?  What do you do when your heart is so broken, your spirit is so destroyed, that there’s nothing to hope for, nothing to look back to? Rebbe Nachman says, in the meantime, keep on walking, in the meantime, keep on praying, in the meantime, keep on loving, until the day when it’s revealed to you that you never fell.  How could it be possible to fall when The Only One is holding you so close.

from the book:

Rebbe Nachman Says…

The Teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov

As Taught by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach z”tl

Compiled by Zivi Ritchie

available on www.amazon.com