Keep the First Fire of a Mitzvah
Avraham set out with the same burning desire he felt when Hashem first spoke to him, and so must we.
A teaching ofRav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz of Bialaרבי דוד מתתיהו רבינוביץ מביאלאProfile ›
Why does the Torah say that Avram went “as Hashem had spoken to him,” when the command was already told? The Rebbe cites his father, the Chelkas Yehoshua, and the Rebbe of Lentchna: Avraham was all holy fire, like the Berditchever waiting through the night of Sukkos for the lulav. From the moment he was commanded, his longing counted as the deed itself. The Rebbe adds a second reading. A person's desire for a mitzvah naturally cools when time passes before he can do it, and the work of avodah is to carry the first fervor, intact, into the moment of doing. This is the meaning of “Go, children, listen to me”: when you go to act, still hear the command as you first did. For the same reason the Torah tells us to remember the very day of the Exodus and of Sinai, awakening again the fire of that day.
Source: Lehavas David, Lech Lecha (on Bereishis 12:4), maamar 3
Most of us feel a real spark when we first hear about a mitzvah, a shiur or a kindness we should do, and by the time we act, the spark is gone. Today, when you decide to do something good, pause for ten seconds before you begin and recall why you wanted to. Picture the moment the thought first came to you. Then begin with that feeling. Try it with one bracha, one phone call or one minute of Tehillim, and see how different it feels.