Using Prayer

My mother-in-law had a way of saying things that would touch a nerve in me. In such moments, my resentment towards her would rise, and I would want to eat. Take my son’s graduation from high school, for example. Following the ceremony there was a reception, and instead of joining us to congratulate my son, my mother-in-law rushed outside to sit by herself near the coat room. Her first words following the reception were to ask why we didn’t rush to her rather than my son.

Instead of using food to address my feelings of frustration, I used prayer to lift my resentment. Having faith in G-d and in the program allowed me to be willing and open-minded enough to change my reaction to the situation. It turned out that my mother-in-law was hurting from pain due to an arthritic knee, and that is why she isolated herself from the crowd. The day after the ceremony, I called to thank her for joining us, and she was so overwhelmed with emotion that she said she wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Coincidentally, I learned later the same day that my mother-in-law had made a donation to a fundraising initiative my husband and I were running. Her donation helped us exceed our goal. While this might seem unrelated to the graduation ceremony, I couldn’t help believing that this was a response to my praying and asking G-d to remove my resentment. It also showed me that G-d works in mysterious ways, ones that I really have to be grateful for. That feeling of gratitude is better than any food I have ever tasted.