When the Going Gets Tough

Today is the twenty-third day, which is three weeks and two days, of the Omer. The essence of the day is Gevurah of Netzach. Sometimes it can be difficult to maintain our forward momentum in the face of opposition. This is where Gevurah of Netzach comes into play.

The Little Rebbetzin loves to go canoeing, she constantly asks to go and is very excited about going, right up to the point of actually getting into the canoe. As soon as she needs to step into the wobbling canoe she has a massive panic attack and screams and sobs how she really doesn’t want to get in the canoe and she will just wait there on the shore. This happens every time. Now, I understand that some things can be frightening to a small person, but I also know that the only way to get beyond that fear is to confront it and then keep going. If I allowed Chesed to rule the situation, we would pack the canoe up and go home and try again when the L.R. was “ready.”
I am more the Gevurah sort. We came to go canoeing and we are going to do it, no obstacles will be tolerated. The L.R. is told that she is going to stop crying, RIGHT NOW, and she is going to, GET INTO THE CANOE. She does, we push off, and the L.R. says: “I love canoeing.” As she dangles her hands over the sides and rolls around on the bottom of the canoe.