Curses That Carry Light
The Tiferes Shlomo sometimes shouted and struck, and Chassidim learned that what looked like anger was a blessing in disguise.
It is told that the Tiferes Shlomo held a tradition, received from Rav Meir of Apta and said to reach back to Avrohom Avinu, of giving what looked like curses in order to bring a yeshuah. The pasuk promises Avrohom that Hashem will curse those who curse him, but the word is written a'or, which can also mean light. A curse, in this reading, can be a light in disguise.
One Erev Shabbos, on his way back from the mikveh, he scolded the simple attendants because the place was untidy and the towels had run short. They shrank from him. The following week everything was perfectly in order, and the Rebbe cried out, why had they left him nothing to be angry about?
On another occasion he turned on his chassidim and told them to go home at once, even on Shabbos. One chassid packed his suitcase and prepared to leave. Fool, said the Rebbe, you have no idea what I am doing.
And there was the chassid who, fleeing the Rebbe's towel one day, was not quick enough and took a blow. He went home sick with worry over what the year would bring. When the Rebbe heard of it, he said, bring that good-for-nothing to me and I will give him forty lashes; after that the fool is going to win the lottery. It came to pass: the man's ticket won forty thousand silver rubles.
Source: Otzar Yisrael, nos. 15 to 18
When something painful lands on you today, a sharp word, a delay, a plan that falls through, pause before deciding that it is bad. Ask what it might be protecting you from or pointing you toward. Write down one possible good that could grow from it. You may not see the answer for a long time, and that is fine. Holding the question open is itself an act of trust that Hashem is guiding the day.