Even at its best, life is difficult. Nothing comes easy. It is hard to grow up. It is hard to grow old. We have to work to keep our jobs, to maintain our relationships.
Every success is followed by new challenges.
We have to return to our regular lives after every vacation. Every weekend is followed by Monday. It is not surprising that we chant havdalah, the prayers that mark the end of Shabbat, in a sad melody. We would be denying the reality of life if we did not let our spiritual lives follow the cycles of life. Life is full of problems, from the simple ones of trying to find time to do everything necessary for our jobs, our families, our friends and our community, to the harder ones of dealing with issues of personal loss and family tragedy, and on to the universal ones of human poverty, political oppression and environmental decline.