“How’s the supper, kids?”
“Great, Ma!”
“It would be nice if you told me once in a while!”
“Ma, you know you’re a great cook and we love your food. We don’t need to tell you!”
“Of course you need to tell me. It’s not enough for me to ‘know.’ I want to be told and to be thanked, as well.”
“You’re so caught up in your latest project, you’re never around and when I ask you anything you only grunt back. It makes me feel like I’m an insignificant part of your life!”
“What do you mean? You know you’re precious to me and the most important thing in my life!”
“Well, you need to tell me that once in a while!”
You wake up in the morning and there’s a refreshing breeze blowing through your window. You hear birds chirping and you feel energized. “Today’s going to be a great day. Thank G-d, I’m alive,” you think to yourself.
Or maybe you’ve just woken up and your neck is stiff from the awkward position you fell asleep in over the technical manuals you read each night to stay on the cutting edge of your profession. You’re exhausted and not looking forward to putting in another 18 hour day. “But hey,” you tell yourself, “at least I’m alive, not like that guy in the office next to mine who...” Your thoughts trail off and you feel thankful to be starting another day, albeit a draining one.
Each morning when we awaken, Jewish teachings tell us, we should direct our first thoughts to being thankful to G-d that we are alive. But reflecting on our good-fortune that we are alive is not enough. We have to verbalize our thanks to G-d by reciting the Modeh Ani prayer at the earliest moment that we recognize we are awake. “I thank you, living and eternal King, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.”
“But G-d knows I’m thankful. G-d knows I’m appreciative.”
Yes, but...
The Baal Shem Tov taught that every single moment G-d is recreating the world. G-d reinvests the divine spark that invigorates everything within each part of creation. We are not required to constantly thank G-d for all of His goodness.
But we are expected to start each day in the right frame of mind; the rest will come on its own.
Hey, it’s nice to hear it once in a while, isn’t it?
