The Gems by the Roadside
Disappointed by plain stones in Eretz Yisroel, the Avritcher Rebbe worked on his own eyes until he saw the Land shine.
Chassidim relate that soon after settling in Tzfas, Rav Avrohom Dov shut himself in his room and let no one enter. When he finally came out, his face shone, and he asked his family to join a festive meal. Rav Fischel Bernstein, one of his closest chassidim, asked him what the occasion was.
The Rebbe explained. Back in the Diaspora, a rabbinic emissary from the Holy Land had once stayed in his town, collecting for its institutions. Carried away in his praise, the emissary had declared that even the plain stones lying beside the roads of Eretz Yisroel sparkle like diamonds. When the Rebbe arrived in the Land, he found only ordinary stones. Meeting the same emissary there, he told him he had looked everywhere for those jewels and could not find a single one. The emissary did not take back his words. Whoever has clear, pure eyes, he replied, will see them.
Those words stayed with the Rebbe. He locked himself in his room and worked on his inner sight until it was cleansed. Now, he said, he saw even the stray stones of the Land glittering like gems. Having been granted such vision, he owed Hashem thanks, and so he had made a meal.
Source: Maamar Mordechai 8, as related by Rav Mordechai of Slonim.
The Rebbe did not argue with the emissary. He went inside and worked on his own eyes. Today, when something you hoped to love disappoints you, a place, a job, a mitzvah or a person, ask what you may not yet be able to see. Choose one ordinary thing in your day, such as a street, a meal or a child's chatter, and look at it slowly for half a minute, searching for what is precious in it. Then thank Hashem for it aloud. Sight can be trained, a little at a time.