I get into a car accident. My car is totaled, my day is ruined, my insurance premium is going up. I am upset at myself, I'm angry at the world, and I'm not on speaking terms with G-d for a while.

Then they line up, the friends who want to cheer me up, the spiritual leaders who know better: You know what my friend... No need to be upset... No need to be depressed... Everything happens for A reason!!!

The first thought that crosses my mind is, Where is your compassion? Where is your sympathy? Do you think I need to hear that I'm suffering for a reason? I'm Suffering!

The second thought that jumps up my brain is: Oh, yeah. Obviously everything happens for a reason. The reason I got into a car accident is so that my car should be wrecked. The reason my day is ruined is so I don't accomplish any of the things that I need to do today. The reason my insurance is going up is so I can have less money to buy food for my kids. How does that help me?

Knowing that there is A reason for everything that happens doesn't take a genius to figure out, certainly there was no need for the Baal Shem Tov to come along and enlighten us that every event has a consequence.

Whoever has faith in individual Divine Providence knows that "Man's steps are established by G-d," that this particular soul must purify and improve something specific in a particular place. For centuries, or even since the world's creation, that which needs purification or improvement waits for this soul to come and purify or improve it. The soul too, has been waiting - ever since it came into being - for its time to descend, so that it can discharge the tasks of purification and improvement assigned to it. Hayom Yom - 3 Elul

G-d created the physical world so that humans can transform it and elevate it to a spiritual state. We have the power to experience people, places and things in a G-dly way, thus changing their composition from merely physical to a new spiritual dimension. The only reason weird things happen to us, is because we are challenged to elevate that situation from the annoying (to humans) to the pleasurable (to G-d).

In other words "Everything happens for a reason" are not words of consolation, but a call to action. If I got into a car accident it is because there is something that I can do in that situation that can make a difference in G-d's master plan for his universe. It's up to me to figure it out. It's up to me to make it worth it.

If only the premium was affordable...