I believe the following would be a good tzu-shtel and the flip side of what Reb Moshe wrote.
1rst Half Idea – We Learn From Tohu Vavohu To Hard Work And Meet Potential
The second verse of Bereishi famously describes the state of the earth pre-creation as tohu va-vohu. This term is generally translated as “chaos,” but Rashi interprets it to mean “astonishingly void.” In his view, bohu denotes emptiness or nothingness, while tohu stems from the root t.h.h., which means wonderment or astonishment. Rashi thus explains, “…that a person is bewildered and astonished over its [the world’s] bohu.” The sheer nothingness of the universe causes – in retrospect – bewilderment and shock.
Rav Moshe Feinstein ( Kol Ram, vol. 3) raised the question as to whether the earth’s primordial state of nothingness is indeed cause for astonishment. One could argue that to the contrary, creation far surpasses pre-creation in terms of the marvel and wonder it evokes. The more a person probes and examines the intricate workings of nature, the more he marvels at the brilliance of the Creator. Why, then, does Rashi speak of the pre-creation nothingness as a source of astonishment? Shouldn’t we be more astonished by the wonder of creation?
Rav Moshe suggested that Rashi’s comments work off the assumption that nothing could be more jarring and mystifying than unfulfilled potential. Once the world has come into existence, in all its majesty and splendor, one can only wonder how it once did not exist. When we consider what could be achieved, we are astonished when that achievement is not reached.
The practical implication of this insight, as Rav Moshe discusses, is obvious: each person must strive not merely to achieve, but to achieve to very fullest of his individual potential. As Rashi’s comments suggest, there is no greater tragedy than wasted opportunities and unfulfilled potential; it thus behooves us all to work towards actualizing our individual potential to the fullest, rather than allow these valuable resources go to waste.
2nd Half Idea – We also learn from Tohu Vavohu that Meeting Potential Is A Prosses Paved With Failures.
tohu va’vohu is part of the process of creation
1. The opening of Braishis is the story of creation. Why then are we treated to the introduction of “v’ha’aretz haysa tohu va’vohu,” a description of the pre-creation void? B’shlama if you interpret the pesukim like Ramban, namely, that tohu va’vohu is some kind of building block matter necessary for all else to be created, then I guess it makes sense. But according to Rashi, who understands tohu va’vohu to simply be a void and chaos, why mention it? If you were to describe an artist at work, you would talk about the brushstrokes on the canvas, not the blank canvas that was there before he started to paint. Why talk about what was there before G-d started making our world and the universe?
Sefas Emes explains that the Torah / Hashem is teaching us about how to create, what creativity means. The artist doesn’t just sit down and produce a great work of art, a great piece of literature. There are dozens of prior sketches that are first tested and discarded, dozens of drafts that don’t make it further than the trash bin. Hashem was “birei olamos u’machrivan.” At first there was tohu va’vohu. This is not pre-creation — this gufa is part of the process of creation. Every act of creation, growth, advancement, always first starts with chaos and void.
It’s difficult as a parent when your kids are growing up and sometimes it seems like they have no idea what direction that are going in or what direction they want to go in and you wonder why they just can’t get on with it and mature. Yet this is the Sefas Emes — you can’tget the “ye’hi ohr” without first having a little “tohu va’vohu.” And it doesn’t just apply to kids either :