NETZACH OF CHESED
As a Christian counting the omer we come to Day Four – Netzach of Chesed.
Netzach of Chesed is ambition with kindness.
I love the way Maya Angelou put it; “The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
I would take this thought even further and say: why can’t we all reach for the stars together? Maybe as we reach for the stars together our hearts will be changed toward one another for the better.
Why change only one heart when you can change many?
ALLOWING KINDNESS INTO OUR AMBITIONS
God’s love allows us humans the freedom to move with ambition. We are encouraged to reach higher and higher and explore things that are greater and greater; but not without the attribution of kindness included while we are reaching.
In the end, we are not just reaching up for ourselves; but for the benefit of all of humanity. That is true reaching ambition with the aspect of kindness added. The kindness makes all the difference.
You can touch a star and feel the exhilaration in having done so. That will leave you with a good memory.
Or you can touch a star with others. You will still have your own good memory; but in sharing it with others you have changed more than one heart.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HEART OF OUR AMBITIONS
We must ask ourselves many questions about our ambitions.
Are the things we are reaching for kind to the world?
These things that we do to elevate our own personal existence with all of our reaching ambitions; are these things selfish; or are they good for others too?
Does our reaching bring peace and health not only into our lives but also to the lives of those that we share the world with?
Our own success should never be because of harm to others.
THINKING OF OTHERS ABOVE OURSELVES
When we think of ambition we note that it always desires success. Yet; to be perfectly successful that success should not be directed only toward the person with the ambition. We must ask if our ambitions include the welfare and benefit of others as well as ourselves.
This brings a professional company into a team effort. It rules out the old picture of one individual’s success being supported by many. Ambition with kindness is just the opposite. A leader of a team that has a vision for everyone succeeding together is always a better vision than a leader that makes all team members mere slaves for his own personal success.
WORKING TOGETHER IN KINDNESS
Have you ever noticed that individual success can sometimes leave a person lonely? Yet shared success can lead to the path of joy for everyone.
Ambition with kindness is the difference in many feeling they are accomplishing something worthwhile together as opposed to only one person feeling successful in the end.
When we work kindly together in our ambitions we all are lifted up together. No one is left out or left feeling useless and empty once the ambitions are achieved.