MY HERO – by Raphael ben Levi
One day Thomas Edison came home and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, “My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother.” His mother’s eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: “Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.”
Many, many years after Edison’s mother died and he was one of the greatest inventors of the century, he was looking through old family things. Suddenly, he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up. On the paper was written: “Your son is mentally ill. We won’t let him come to school any more.” Edison cried for hours and then wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.”
There are many unsung heroes in our lives; we may be unaware of some by whom our own identity has been defined as in the case of Edison.
Let me share about my greatest hero. He can be yours too. I had a dream where I was in Paradise and saw many children everywhere, ‘innocents’ engaged in numerous activities and exploration. They were overflowing with such joy, peace, wonder and a purity that was breathtaking! Some became aware of my presence and gathered around with wide-eyed curiosity. One of them enquired: “We have seen the ‘mark of the overcomer’ stamped upon you. How is it possible to succeed in a world filled with so much cruelty and evil?” Without hesitation, I replied: “It is all of Him, I claim no merit. He gives me grace to make good choices. When I fail, He picks me up and holds me so close my tears combine with His own. He is truly my hero!” “All of Him, all of Him,” they sang as they nodded in approval and sauntered happily away.
I marvelled at the uncomplicated trust and spontaneity of these ‘innocents’ compared to the safety nets I sometimes surround my life with. And there and then I better understood the meaning of true greatness as reflected in my role model, my hero, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach to whom I humbly bow the knee. “All of Him, all of Him…”
“Raphael ben Levi was an addled child who by a hero Saviour, became a “more than conqueror.”
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