QUESTION: How do I deal with the fact that I keep failing in things that I want to accomplish in Avodas Hashem? I try but it doesn't go. I feel like I just want to give up already.
ANSWER: In one of his Seforim, the Breslover Rebbe writes as follows: he says, “when I was younger, I tried to serve Hashem. I tried, and I fell down a hundred times. And each time, I got up, and tried again.”
This was his stubbornness. He got up, and he fell down. He was Nichshal*. He got up again. A hundred times. “I got up,” he says, “and in the end, I remained standing.”
It’s a Nisayon, and you have the wherewithal to overcome the Nisayon. You keep on trying, and in the end, you will surely succeed. “Habo Letaher Mesayin Lo” - there’s no such thing as not succeeding. If you really want to succeed, then you will remain standing. The first ninety-nine times are just a test to see if you are a weakling. Then you’re on the road to greatness.
*Editor’s note: needless to say, the Breslover was an absolute Tzadik. His ‘downfalls’ were commensurate with his extraordinary spiritual level.