SERVING HASHEM HAPPILY

There is a first time for everything. Today it was the first time that my ten-year-old son, my youngest, my baby, didn't want me to go outside to see him off when he went to cheder in the morning. "I'm a big boy already!" he said.

I felt sad and totally unprepared, "Now, the kids are really starting to grow up! And since they're boys, this is going to be drastic and almost final. Soon they'll be off to yeshivah."

Of course, I wasn't ready to give up just yet, so I did go outside to see him off, but I came home in a very bad mood.

Then I started reading the declaration of hiskashrus to Rabbeinu that most Breslover chassidim say every morning and evening (I say it only in the morning). I soon as I uttered the words, "I hereby want to serve Hashem with emes, with emuna, and with simcha", I immediately felt better. After all, it does says in the Talmud that every person is led in the way they want to go. If I sincerely want to serve Hashem happily, then I will be given that opportunity! In every situation that He puts me into, it's possible to find joy through serving Him.