It was summer. The children were in camp, and we used that time to do renovations on our home. We were having an important addition made to the house, and I hoped the extension would not take longer than two months. I planned that when the children got home, the house would be ready and they would not have to deal with the fallout from the construction.
That’s what I hoped, but the contractor was quite laid back. His workers came and went at their own pace. What Chazal said was definitely true for me: “Anyone who wants to lose his money should hire workers and not supervise them as they work”; but one who wants to lose his menuchas hanefesh and his health should hire workers and sit around supervising them.
It was the week of Parshas Eikev, Elul was only a week and a half away, and the renovations needed a real push. I tried to come up with creative solutions. What could I do in order to get the construction moving and the workers to hurry up? If they worked quickly they would definitely make it. There was not so much work to do relative to the time they were taking. Maybe I would bribe them to come on Sunday, their day of rest? Maybe I should offer them bonuses and prizes. Perhaps the same tactics that work for children in kindergarten would work for these lazy workers as well?
Somehow I understood on my own that this thought was not logical and would not be within the range of normal hishtadlus; but the feeling of urgency was flowing in my veins. What was I to do?! What?!
Then I found what to do: I opened the sefer Chovos Halevavos. I turned the pages and somehow found myself at the beginning of the fourth chapter, and then it appeared before my eyes: When a person trusts in Hashem, he will find menuchah for his heart and serenity in his soul, and he will not [attempt to force something to come his way] earlier or later than the time that was decreed for him.
I read these words again and again – “not earlier or later than the time....” Why should I attempt to push walls if in any case they would be built only at the time when Hakadosh Baruch Hu decreed? Why should I hurry things up if they are not being hurried up from on High? I had already spoken to the contractor and had done everything there was for me to do. I had undoubtedly done my share of hishtadlus. Now was the time for peace of the heart and serenity of the soul.
I had planned on picking up the phone to call the contractor, but now I understood it was time for me to let go. Instead of having that conversation, I repeated the words of the Chovos Halevavos again and again – it would happen in its time, no earlier and no later.
I could not anticipate what happened next. The phone rang. What name showed up on the screen? It was the contractor, calling to ask if I would agree to have the workers come on Sunday.
I was amazed. That was exactly what I had wanted to ask of him, and now I had received it through the power of emunah alone!
