“Who can find a woman of valor? For her value is far above pearls.”

The Letter of the Verse:

We all have an innate need to feel connected and yet to be a unique individual at the same time. The balance is essential. How can I feel part of a unified whole and still feel that I have my own role to fill? How can I maintain my personality while working alongside a majority?

The first letter of the alphabet, the Aleph, is the secret to making both work. While numerically it is equivalent to one, the letter is a word itself which is read as elef meaning “thousand.” To be one and one thousand simultaneously is the goal. We need to know ourselves, our role and our purpose and yet be focused on the collective as we go about doing what must be done. Just as was discussed in the verse, this is the work of the soldier. The soldier must ensure his own safety while protecting the safety of all the others in his unit.

More so, the connection of one to one thousand is the idea of exponential growth. It is so easy to feel stuck. To wonder if our small, little changes will make a difference or ever add up. But nothing is for nothing. One step in the right direction means that the other foot is that much more likely to follow. And before you know it, look back and you have traveled quite a distance. But step by step, day by day, one by one is the concept of linear growth. You will get there, but it is going to take some time. And there is most definitely something to be said about perseverance and a slow approach.

It can be hard to believe that exponential growth will happen. We are so conditioned to go step by step. If I make $100 a week, I will make roughly $400 a month. How could I possibly make $100 one week and $1000 the next or even $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000. But that is exponential growth. And we are starting to see more and more of it. Ask any kid what a viral video is and they intuitively understand the idea of exponential growth. The trick is getting them to believe that they have exponential potential. But a video is posted one day of a baby biting his brother’s finger, and it starts with a few “likes” and next thing we know it is in the millions.

Think about this…if someone offered you one million dollars today, or that you could be given one penny today and then have it doubled every single day for 30 days. Which would you choose? Who would turn down a million dollars?! How could something as worthless as a penny amount to anything in the short time span of one month?

And yet it can. And does.

For those who chose the million dollars, you are going to feel pretty great about this decision after one week when your friend who chose the pennies only has $1.27. Just over a dollar! After two weeks he will still be loving his choice when his friend has $166.83. At three weeks he is gloating at his million when he friend has only $20,971.51.

At one month, he is not very happy.

You see, something amazing happens between three and four weeks. Within those seven days, $20,971.51 soon becomes at day 28: $2,684,354.55.

And while the one who choose 1 million dollars has 1 million dollars thirty days later, his friend who started with 1 cent has $10,737,418.23 thirty days later.

Exponential growth is real. It is possible. And we are all capable of it!

And perhaps the secret to tapping into this potential can be found in the form of the letter itself. The letter Aleph (and every letter) is comprised of other letters that make it up. When we pull apart of the Aleph we see that we have two Yuds connected by a Vav.  This teaches us that what is above us and what is below us is always connected. In other words, what has happened and what will happen is connected to what is happening now. We can transform our past by what we do today which affects who we will be tomorrow. It is all one. It is all unified when accessed properly.

This also is clearly connected to the idea that we have one Creator who is both in the Heavens (above) and the Earth (below). The letter Aleph is the first letter of the 10 Commandments and is our reminder that we were created to be unified and to bring awareness and recognition that we all have a spark of Godliness within and a holy mission to accomplish.

It is easy to feel that on our own, by ourselves, we may not be able to accomplish something. But when we remember that within us is Godly potential, then anything can become possible. While we are one individual, we are made up of more than just ourselves.

The numerical equivalent of the number ‘echad’ which is the word for “one”, the number of Aleph, equals 13. This number also equals ‘ahavah’ meaning love. When we recognize that love can and will unify us, we are inspired to give that love, share it and receive it. And when we feel united and included, we are that much more likely to tap into our abilities and while we may begin step by step, day by day, one by one, at any point we can reach exponential growth and accomplish well beyond our wildest dreams.

In Part 5 we will discuss the second verse of Eshet Chayil and its relevance to our lives.

http://www.interinclusion.org/inspirations/believing-in-trust-eshet-chayil-part-5/

http://www.interinclusion.org/inspirations/finding-what-you-are-looking-for-eshet-chayil-part-3/

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