A few weeks ago we took the kids to Six Flags, anticipating a fun family day. Because it was Passover, thousands of others had the same idea and the place was jam packed. We found a parking spot quite far from the entrance, and my wife asked me to look around and make a note of where we'd parked, which I did. We were in section three, near the trees, far from the entrance. Easy! Or so I thought...
Fast-forward several hours, and after an exhilarating but exhausting day, we were ready to leave. I left my wife and oldest four children at the front gate to save them the walk, and I took the baby and went to find the car. Well, I went straight to section three and looked around but...no car! I walked up and down the rows, but there was no sign of it.
I tried to call my wife but her phone was dead, so I had no way of letting her know why it was taking so long. I was also carrying my baby who was getting heavier by the minute, and this little misplaced car issue was turning into quite a problem.
Fortunately, my brother happened to have had the same idea and brought his family to the same park, so he was able to give me a ride through the parking lot in his car, to look for my missing car, but still we couldn't find it.
After waiting a while, my wife and older kids walked to the car. She knew exactly where it was and she borrowed someone's phone to explain to me that there are dozens of section threes at six flags! Apparently I had parked at section three of a particular cartoon character and now I was in section three but the wrong one. She even texted me a picture of the right cartoon character to make it easier to find, and finally, I found them!
3329 years ago the Jewish nation stopped roaming the desert and parked at the foot of Mount Sinai. There, G-d revealed Himself to us in all His glory. He gave us our mission statement, the reason for our existence. He gave us the tools with which to live in the physical world—the Torah.
But fast forward 3329 years to the holiday of Shavuot in 2017, and some of us are struggling to remember where we parked. In fact, some of us have even stopped looking! Every day from Pesach until Shavuot we count down in anticipation of the holiday. The counting is intended to remind us of the day G-d entrusted us with His Torah, and to build anticipation for Shavuot, when we will re-accept the great gift He has bestowed upon us.
He gave it to us so we would live with it and use it to elevate our material world. It's our job, as we count the 49 days between Pesach and Shavuot, to keep doing those mitzvot that will bring us closer and closer to our parking spot. Take the opportunity to put on tefillin, keep Shabbat, give charity, love your fellow Jew, etc. Each mitzvah brings us closer to finding that spot–remembering how and why G-d gifted us the gift of all gifts, His holy Torah.