The Kindness of Hashem

29 Iyyar 5775
Erev Rosh Chodesh
Yom Kippur Katan
Day 44 of the Omer

"...the kindness of God is all day long." (Tehillim 52:3)

As shared on Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi's facebook page...

Whatever day it is right now as you are reading this, the kindness of God has been there for you from the beginning of the day, until this moment, and the kindness of God will be with you for the rest of the day until the new day starts. Tomorrow again you will be a beneficiary of the kindness of God, and this will continue each and every day for your entire life. This has been going on from your very first day of life and each and every day after that until this moment.

Imagine how you will feel when you experience an entire day with this awareness. From the moment you open your eyes in the morning until you go to sleep at night, every moment will have awareness of God's kindness towards you.

Allow yourself to be aware of being the recipient of constant kindness for an entire day. Every movement you make is an aspect of God's kindness. Everything you own is an aspect of God's kindness. Every interaction with other people has aspects of this kindness. Every bit of food you eat and any water you drink is an aspect of this constant kindness.

And what about the things that you usually overlook? On the day that you decide to become more aware of the kindnesses you experience, you will notice more and more things. You will see what you might not have seen before. You will hear what you might not have heard before. You will feel feelings of gratitude and joy that otherwise you might not have felt.

You will find yourself being more aware of God's presence. You will allow your mind to be filled with thoughts of appreciation of God's kindness to you. You will be more present oriented. You will focus less on anything you are dissatisfied with about the past. You will be free from stressful thoughts about the future. You will be focused on the present kindnesses.

When you do this, if your mind needlessly wanders to some thoughts that are not conducive to appreciation of kindness, gently and lightly direct your consciousness to the present kindness that you are experiencing. Just knowing that your mind has the ability to direct your thoughts is a wonderful kindness of God. How exactly does your mind direct your thoughts to thoughts of kindness? We have no way to explain this with our present limited knowledge. But the knowledge we do have of what we are able to do is something for which to be grateful.

And what would your entire life from now on be like if you would take this verse as a focus to frequently think about? And there is only one way to really answer this question accurately. And that is to make this a verse that will frequently be on your lips. For when you repeat it out loud and to yourself, your inner mind will focus on the kindnesses that you are experiencing right now on this day.

(Rabbi Zelig)