strugglingyid wrote on 27 Apr 2010 05:44:
The best thing [...] is to do all the things I am supposed to be doing and doing them for love of Hashem. This is the only true way I think of showing Hashem that we truly love him.
Doing a big Teshuva or what not might be great -- but when you love someone it is not really about the big things but in how you do all the small things. Not that I am knocking the big things, they are important, but if you to really show someone you love them you have to constantly be doing the little things that matter so much.
This quote really spoke to me somehow. I see this question of gratitude as a box of four possibilities, a 2-by-2 grid.
Sometimes, we're dealing with a case of expressing our thanks for something HE'S done for US (option 1), and sometimes it's for something (mitzvah, etc) that WE do for HIM (option 2). And, looking at the other axis, sometimes we're talking about something BIG (e.g., Yom Kippur) (option A) and other times about the SMALL things (e.g., a penny on the street) (option
![](https://guardyoureyes.com/components/com_kunena/template/default/images/emoticons/new/cool.png)
.
I might know how to thank Him when something Big comes around (a new job, new child, etc) (option 1A). And I think I even know ways to thank Him for something that seems small (the car starts, the bill gets refunded) (option 1B). I even know how to try and do something BIG for HIM (I'll fast; I'll refrain from acting out) (option 2A).
BUT WHAT S.Y. IS TALKING ABOUT IS _DOING_ SOMETHING SMALL FOR HASHEM, JUST BECAUSE.... CHINAM. STAM.
And yeah, that's the cell on the grid that I forget -- doing something 'small' for Hashem (Option 2B). "Just because." Because... it helps me keep my focus on Him, b'chol yom tamid. And maybe even because it gives Him nachas (K'Y) that His children still remember Him lovingly after all these years of golus and tzuris.
So, if I can remember to do little things for my wife and kids "just because," shouldn't it be a kal v'chomer to do this for Him?
So simple, yet so easy for me to forget.
I should try saying, "I'm about to do this 'easy' mitzvah... FOR YOU." "I'm about to enjoy this yummy fruit... FOR YOU." I'm about to walk away from this aveira opportunity... FOR YOU."
Keep Him in mind to do the SMALL stuff "for Him," and not just the BIG stuff.
Struggling Yid, you hit a very important nerve of mine. You may now close up the patient's thick skull and return him to the post-op ward for observation. Thanks.
PS: I had intended this post for my OWN thread, not SY's. But I messed up and it posted here. So I'll take it as 'bashert' unless SY asks me to take it out. Hashem sure does work with infinite wisdom and an infinite sense of humor....