Creating the Vessel for Life

This shu-shine is dedicated to an inspiring lifelong friend I made this week, Patrick De Silva, who has created a vessel of loving light both in the way he conducts business, and in the kind and giving person that he is.

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In the competitive world we live in, it is easy to get caught up in the competition to 'leave our mark on the world'.  So many people wish to see their name on a skyscraper, become a rockstar, or in some other way become immortal.

Driven by ego, we run to create businesses or to grab some kind of status in our synagogue or church.  We seek board positions at schools and in our townships, compete hard at the local sports club, work our bodies into perfect sculpted form, and pretty much do anything we can to feel like a god on some kind of level.

But we get lost.

Because in our effort to feel like an immortal god, we forget that true immortality comes by behaving in a Godly manner.

In other words, it is not our money that defines us, but rather what our money enables (charity…).  It is not the size of our house that matters, but rather the laughter and love and familial devotion that is found within in.  It is not my influence in the world that matters, but rather the way I touch lives on a casual level as I interact with dozens of people every day (saying 'hello' with genuine warmth; making time to do someone a favor; greeting everyone with a true smile).

But if we have lost our way, how do we find our way back to alignment with these deeper inner values?  What is the way to build a vessel that creates light in the world, rather than simply putting ourselves in the spotlight?  Where can we look in order to find the beacon that can lead us past the rocks of falsity, and into the port of alignment, charity, and serenity?

Attached please find a Shu-Shine for the Torah portion of 'Vayakhel-Pikudei': "Creating the Vessel for Life".

May we all be blessed to create True vessels in life, and become True vessels as individuals – receiving the light from Above and shining it to those around us through everything we do.

With Love and a Smile,

~Shu