Avraham sits at the tent in the heat of the day. Shvitzin. We know he just circumcised himself. He was just circumcised! He was sitting at the tent because he wanted to be there. Forget the pain. forget about money, forget about people, he was given a direct command from God and he did it. He fulfilled it. He did what no one else on the planet did before him or has done after him. 99 years old, gave himself a bris milah. The pain must have been significant. Afterwords he didn't say, 'oh I need 2 weeks vacation now, I'm going to lie in bed, I've overextended myself again, I should rest or I might get sick.' A friend of mine in yeshiva had his bris at 27. He was in gigantic pain for works. It was months till he was fully healed.
Avraham was in touch with something inside of himself that allowed him to go deeper into life, deeper into himself without running away. Most of us... well... most of us run away.
Yet we have a super power strength inside of us, but we do not grab a hold of it for some reason. We know it is real, we know it is there, but we are scared of it. We somehow play it cool when it comes to this power. As if we can access it when we want and we can do what we want, but when life brings this power into focus inside of us we don't actually tap into it. We run away.
Avraham received the command, did it and now it was over. He was on the other side of it. He could look back with a smile. Done. Yet, he didn't take the vacation. He was a new being and he just let that be.
It's like being elected to a position. You just became head administrator. It took you weeks of campaigning and you finally won the position. One could justifiably say that I need a little break so I can start fresh. Avraham wasn't settling in. He was jumping in. He ran for mitzvah's. He jumped for mitzvah's. Avraham was doubling up his efforts now. He was living on the edge. Maybe he would get an infection! He should let his immune system build up again. We can all hear our mother's voices saying, 'stay in bed you need your rest!'
Avraham functioned on a superior level of human integrity that most of us are just not in touch with. We know that the power is there and we know we have it. This is the reason why we play down Avraham or any other Torah figure down. 'Not such a big deal, I've got that power' 'I can do that, if I put my focus on it.' Exactly. That's the point. Avraham did it. He was chosen. He didn't make a big deal about it, he wasn't looking for credit, he was looking to do the work.
There's a famous saying in business, be among the one's who want to do the work, not among the ones who want the credit. This way you'll have no competition. No one is competing to just do the work, everyone is competing to get the credit.
He was living on the edge. The fears of life, the boundaries to which most people live within, he was passing over. It was just not going to be a boundary that he was going to be restrained by.
To do this you must go inside yourself. What you find when you really find your insides, should scare you. Avraham's commitment, his unriveled dedication to do the mitzvah's of Hashem as a new creation is beyond words or superficial descriptions. He was living life as it was meant to live. Entirely dedicated mind, heart and body to service. He wasn't scared, he wasn't timid. Life was right here, right now. And noway he was going to miss it.
He was given the opportunity and he was jumping in all the way.
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