KAVANAH (intention) makes the whole difference in why we do things. We could work for money and accumulating every day more and more because our whole motivation is to be rich or we can work because our motivation is to be able to serve G-d in an abundant way by giving Tzedakah and giving our families what they need like Jewish education, a home, kosher food, etc…
Rashi comments on (Shemot 25:2) Parashah Terumah that the donations given to the tabernacle should be given for the sake of the Almighty.
When we do something with pure motivations , our actions are elevated. The Alter Rebbe explains in the Tanya that a mitzvah is like a bird and our intentions if they are holy are the wings which will allow it to fly upwards. When we do a mitzvah for self gratification the bird doesn’t get the wings, but nevertheless the mitzvah has value. The beauty is that the day you make that same mitzvah with pure and holy intention for the sake of H”S and no ulterior motives all the other Mitzvahs you had done previously with the wrong motivation will get their wings and soar high. That is why our Rabbi’s tell us: ” if you are going to do a mitzvah for the wrong reason do it anyways because eventually you will do it for the right reason and all those other Mitzvahs you did before will gain wings and go up.”
Rabbi Moshe Aaron Stern related that he was once walking with Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian in Yerushalaim. When he saw a man repairing the street, Rav Eliyahu commented, ” see how this person is constantly involved in the mitzvah of building the Land of Israel, if he only would have the right motivation for the sake of a mitzvah instead of looking at it as a job how high he would be able to rise.”
When you work, cook for your family, dress your children, even when you exercise put the right intention into it, ” I work so I can support my family and give tzedakah, I cook for my family so they can have energy and be healthy to learn Torah and do Mitzvahs, etc…
In this way every mundane act becomes a beautiful bird with strong wings.
www.livealittlehigher.com
