Dream Big

"Time keeps on slippin' into the future ... I want to  fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me, I want to fly like an eagle 'till I'm free." (SM)

Let your spirit fly and set you free!

With Shabbos ha'Gadol just hours away and Pesach just days away, we feel the hype and energy with each passing moment.
Cleaning, preparing, shopping ... busy times.
Before we enter Shabbos, perhaps we can share a thought about the potential and symbolism behind this Shabbos, Shabbos ha'Gadol.
Each year, we prepare for Pesach, often for weeks before. The stress mounts, as do the grocery bills, and we enter into the special holiday with a sense of pure exhaustion. As we sit tired at the Seder table and as the days of Pesach slip by, our thoughts often drift away from the very core mindset of the holiday - freedom. We get carried away about the past and leave very little room for the future. We fulfill our obligation of remembering and reliving Yetzi'as Mitzrayim, but by the time we reach the end, where we desperately proclaim, "Next year in Yerushalayim," we may have lost steam.
This is why we have Shabbos ha'Gadol before Pesach. Besides for all the reasons we have learned about the reason for its name, perhaps there is an additional lesson to be learned from it. Perhaps, we are being told, "Dream big!" We are being taught not to go through the Pesach season and forget the potential - our potential.
We can be big!
Real big!
We have the potential of bringing about the Final Redemption!
Before entering Pesach, let this Shabbos ha'Gadol remind us of how great we can be. Let it remind us of our potential to bring about a salvation. Then, we can enter Pesach with a sense of purpose far greater than a simple retelling of the past, but with an anticipation of the bright future to come.
The miraculous redemption from Mitzrayim began on Shabbos ha'Gadol when B'nei Yisroel followed the direction of Hashem to prepare the Korban Pesach. It started with their actions. With their faith. With their potential of destroying the very symbol of Mitzrayim and its false gods.
We can and must do the same. Our redemption will also begin when we discover our potential to overcome our difficulties through our faith in Hashem. Through our actions of faith.
Let our spirits carry us so that one day soon we will "fly ON an eagle 'till we're free!"
Let this truly be a Shabbos ha'Gadol!

Say to yourself ten times today:
"I have potential! I can be great!"