The Harvest of the Heart

Someone once asked Rav Noach, "Tefillah is how we praise the King for all the great things He does, or ask Him to fill our needs. Why does the Gemara call it avodah, a service, of the heart?"

Rav Noach answered, "The heart is like a field. Only after a field has been worked well can one plant in it and look forward to a good harvest. Before it is worked, it does not deserve to be called a field; it is just a desolate plot of land. The heart is the same. Tefillah works the heart through and through, and gives us the ability to connect to Hashem and to feel the way a Yid should."