We thank the stranger for holding the door open for us.
We thank our child for bringing us a diaper.
We thank our mother for having had us over for Shabbat.
The list is endless but are our thank you's meaningless?
We wake up every morning and say "מודה אני," but do we even pay attention to what we are saying? Do we realize how thankful we really should be that Hashem gave us back our neshama, gave us another day to do better and grow a little closer to Him.
"מודה אני לפנך" I thank you
"מלך חי וקים" Living and eternal king
"שהחזרת בי נשמתי" Who returned my neshama to me
"בחמלה" With pity
"רבה אמונתך" Great is Your faithfulness
Sometimes in life we are faced with challenges and we don't know why or how to get through them. We may find a temporary solution to them, but never long lasting. If we could get to the root of the problem, many challenges and hard struggles would disappear. What is the root of many of these struggles we face?
It comes from our lack of gratitude towards Hashem, our lack of Hakarat Hatov.
We wake up and say Modeh Ani and daven during the day, whether once or three times. But do we ever stop and say thank you to Hashem for all the good He's given us. Not a general thank you, a detailed and heart-filed thank you for all the wonderful things we have in life. Even someone who is struggling and really having a hard time with what ever his situation, he can say thank you.
When we show Hashem that we appreciate what he has given us, we open up the gates to receive more goodness from Hashem. We need to say to Hashem, "Thank you for my husband/wife, thank you for my family, thank you for being able to breathe properly and walk/talk/see." There are many many things we can be thankful for, no matter what we are going through in life. If we can begin to say thank you for all the good things we have in life, our struggles and challenges will get easier. We won't only see and focus on the negative, but rather on the positive. And in turn, Hashem will see how we appreciate what he gives us and will want to give us more. Our struggles with disappear because through our gratitude we will have a better clarity and understanding that Hashem only gives us good and what looks seemingly bad, is in reality for our best.
Hashem gives us challenges to call us closer to him. He sends up these wake-up calls because he loves us, and wants us to come back to him.
We have to thank Hashem for these calls, it's done purely out of love. When we begin to be grateful to Hashem we will see his love with clarity. And begin to serve Hashem out of pure love. We will be able to thank Hashem even more and the circle will continue. B'ezrat Hashem we will be zoche to this.
The list is endless but are our thank you's meaningless?
We wake up every morning and say "מודה אני," but do we even pay attention to what we are saying? Do we realize how thankful we really should be that Hashem gave us back our neshama, gave us another day to do better and grow a little closer to Him.
"מודה אני לפנך" I thank you
"מלך חי וקים" Living and eternal king
"שהחזרת בי נשמתי" Who returned my neshama to me
"בחמלה" With pity
"רבה אמונתך" Great is Your faithfulness
Sometimes in life we are faced with challenges and we don't know why or how to get through them. We may find a temporary solution to them, but never long lasting. If we could get to the root of the problem, many challenges and hard struggles would disappear. What is the root of many of these struggles we face?
It comes from our lack of gratitude towards Hashem, our lack of Hakarat Hatov.
We wake up and say Modeh Ani and daven during the day, whether once or three times. But do we ever stop and say thank you to Hashem for all the good He's given us. Not a general thank you, a detailed and heart-filed thank you for all the wonderful things we have in life. Even someone who is struggling and really having a hard time with what ever his situation, he can say thank you.
When we show Hashem that we appreciate what he has given us, we open up the gates to receive more goodness from Hashem. We need to say to Hashem, "Thank you for my husband/wife, thank you for my family, thank you for being able to breathe properly and walk/talk/see." There are many many things we can be thankful for, no matter what we are going through in life. If we can begin to say thank you for all the good things we have in life, our struggles and challenges will get easier. We won't only see and focus on the negative, but rather on the positive. And in turn, Hashem will see how we appreciate what he gives us and will want to give us more. Our struggles with disappear because through our gratitude we will have a better clarity and understanding that Hashem only gives us good and what looks seemingly bad, is in reality for our best.
Hashem gives us challenges to call us closer to him. He sends up these wake-up calls because he loves us, and wants us to come back to him.
We have to thank Hashem for these calls, it's done purely out of love. When we begin to be grateful to Hashem we will see his love with clarity. And begin to serve Hashem out of pure love. We will be able to thank Hashem even more and the circle will continue. B'ezrat Hashem we will be zoche to this.
