BS’D
From one of our readers:
A young girl was standing in the marketplace with a large basket of apples for sale. Suddenly, a thief approached and began to snatch apples out of the basket. The girl became confused and stood helplessly, not knowing what to do. Someone who was watching from a distance called out to her, “Why are you standing still? What are you waiting for —that he should grab everything? Just as he is grabbing, so should you grab- whatever you can get will still be yours!”
And so it is regarding prayer. If one was overcome by lethargy and mindless daydreaming at the start of the Shemoneh Esrei, and suddenly finds himself near the prayer’s end without having “grabbed any apples,” this does not mean that he should give up and leave himself with nothing. Rather, he should strive with all his inner strength to concentrate on the remaining blessings.”
Tefillah is a journey. We begin on this earthly plane and strive to reach a spiritual high one-on-one with Hashem. Our intent while davening should be to tighten our bond with Hashem and gain closeness to Him. Although Hashem is everywhere, we strive to sharpen our awareness of His constant and intimate presence in our lives. How do we achieve this awesome awareness? By ‘inviting’ Hashem into our lives; that is the key that opens up the door and ‘lets Him in.’
Even if every so often we depart from our Beloved Guest and randomly drift off to other ‘planes’ with other thoughts, we can still regularly come back to express our love and desire to connect. As the parable teaches – take what you can out of your Tefillot. Every bit counts!
