How to Construct Your Roller Coaster

בס"ד

Yesterday we posted an excellent article that pointed out how the time, when we were in Egypt and the desert, had its ups and downs. We were on a roller coaster. As bad as it was, the roller coaster ride continued throughout Jewish history to this very day. The article ended with: “This world is like a roller coaster with ups and downs, and the wild ride will only end when Moshiach comes.”

You may notice in recent decades how the world’s roller coasters have increased in craziness. What used to be up and down is now with circles, spirals, much greater speeds, much more dangerous drops, etc. If you want an idea of what I am talking about, go to YouTube and put in: “the world's worst roller coasters.” I have noticed that as things change in the world, so do representative examples. The world’s roller coasters have become as crazy as the world is today. The world offers much more than ups and downs, it includes every dangerous move that the worst roller coasters can make.

So what does this parable have to do with each of us? It turns out that we each have a personal roller coaster in our lives. We each have our ups and downs and even our loops, spirals, changes in speed, etc (you get the idea).

What can we do about it? It turns out that we have actually been given a system in life from Hashem, of course, to design our own roller coaster. I have been saying for the past five years that what happens in our lives has everything to do with the testing Hashem feels we need, measure for measure, to reach correction of our souls – our Tikun, the very purpose of our being on planet Earth. If we follow Hashem, the testing is much more tolerable, since we are getting the correction we need by living the instructions Hashem has given us. That is the voluntary correction, perfection that has been mentioned many times (from repentance, prayer, charity, Torah study, helping others, doing the commandments – I know, you have heard this list many, many times). Or we have the involuntary ways to get correction and perfection through sickness, accidents, hardship, financial difficulties, family problems, problems, problems and more problems.

The extent of how much we accomplish in life the easy way with Hashem or the hard way on our own determines our roller coaster. The ups and downs are completely by design and it is the design that Hashem has made possible for us. What type of roller coaster we have in life completely comes from how much we use Hashem’s merciful guidance or not.

A little design tip: ups are good; downs are not. A positive attitude with positive action makes for a very happy life. A negative attitude with no upward motion causes all the problems of life. Climbing is our goal.

You got the idea.  Now it is time to review the ride you have been living and/or redesign that you need to do to make life much more pleasurable.  By the way, the roller coaster design from Hashem, His recommended model, comes with a lifetime guarantee in writing.