Prayer

Real meaningful prayer takes time and effort.  True, there are moments every now and again where God is like a blazing flame that touches every fiber of our being, but these times come as undeserved and infrequent gifts.  They are whetting out appetite for what is possible.

He who is getting ready to pray should learn from a common laborer -- who takes a whole day to prepare for a job.  A wood cutter who spends most of his day sharpening his axe and only in the last hours of the cuts the wood has earned his day's wage.  Menachem Mendl of Koktz