My favorite story in the Tanach is the Story of Esther.
Yeah, she’s not my favorite character (Ahab), but her story is one of the most important lessons I have ever learned in life, and I am amazed how it comes back around time and time again.
It is simply amazing to consider how many people in my life were there for me in ways that they never understood or even knew about. People who perhaps thought one thing was happening, but in ways that they never saw accomplished other things.
Esther was told by Mordecai that G-d had put her in a specific place at a specific moment and that she may never know what becomes of things because of that. But she had to do what she could at that moment. What happens later is up to G-d. What happens right now was up to her.
There are two people in my life that had a bigger effect on me than they ever knew or had any reason to know. It would take days to tell the whole of it, but without them, there would be no Ben today. One gave me her friendship and a phone number. The other gave me a reason to believe again.
Looking around today I have to wonder two things. Who has G-d put there because I need them, and who has G-d put me there because they need me?
And when all is said and done, will I be like Esther and do what I can do at the moment?
