Life is a series of battles and not a war.
I think this is one of the most important things to know about life or just serving G-d in general.
If life is a war, then if you fall just once you are permanently defeated. Hope is lost and the will to continue dissipates and despair sets in. This is the outlook that is the cause of depression in so many people when they encounter a setback or failure.
But if life is a series of battles, if you lose, you are derailed but not defeated. You might be bruised but not broken. You might be in a moment of darkness but you always have a glimmer of light. It creates a vision of the world that gives rise to the social virtue of hope.
Life is hard and struggle is inescapable. We all struggle in different ways and we all fail continuously. It’s very hard not to want to give up. In those times I think it’s important to remember that life is not a war but a series of battles. When you lose your battle, you are not defined by that loss and so there is no reason to despair.
The corollary of that is when we win the battle there is equally no reason for hubris or pride. Because we won the battle today but we can lose it tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, it’s almost guaranteed we will lose one day. But because life is not a war, life is not meant to be won. It’s meant to be fought. So the only losers are the ones who give up. And the only winners in life are the fighters.
2021