Begin With Yourself

Reb Zusha and his brother Rav Elimelech had a continuing difference over how a person should base his service of Hashem. Reb Zusha held that a person should first reflect on his own lowliness, which will lead him to appreciate Hashem's greatness. Rav Elimelech held that by contemplating Hashem's greatness, a person comes to realize his own smallness. Since neither could convince the other, they went to the Maggid of Mezritch for a ruling. The Maggid told them that both paths are valuable, but that the one who begins with himself is safer, because a person cannot fall from the ground.