The Library

A chossid once came to his Rebbe crying about the setbacks he'd faced. The Rebbe, sitting behind a desk, told him to jump over the table. The guy thought he was joking. When the Rebbe repeated it the fourth time, the guy got up and took 3 steps back to be able to take a running leap forward. Before he jumped, the Rebbe told him to halt. And pointed out to him, "You see, you've gone backwards, in order to go forwards. We all have to have falls in order to climb higher."

In future, the fast of Shiva Assar be'Tamuz is going to be a day of celebration. How can it be that a day that led to destruction is one that we're going to rejoice on? Because the destruction is what causes the rebuilding. The third Beis Hamikdash, which can only be built due to the second's destruction, is going to be so much greater than the second. For that, we rejoice.

We can use anything to go forward. Yeah, I may have created a mess. But what am I going to do with it now? Am I going to keep it a mess, or use it to help me get to a place I couldn't have previously?

Bilaam was going to curse the people. He was going to harm them. From these curses, came the greatest of blessings.

We can use our falls, we can use anything that hurts us, as stepping stones to climb higher and higher.