Set your sights on Torah and prayer. Make them your goals. Everybody goes out to work, but it’s your motive that counts!
One of Reb Noson’s followers owned a small business from which he earned his living. But this man wanted very much to devote all his time and energy to studying Torah, and was ready to give up his means of livelihood in order to do it. Presenting his plan to Reb Noson, he was surprised that it did not meet with his mentor’s approval.
“Right now, your heart is burning with a desire and yearning for Torah. You’re willing to accept the hardships of such a lifestyle. But what happens when this fire cools off? What will you eat then? Will you be able to accept the difficulties and remain happy? Let me suggest another approach. Before you go to your work each day, set aside time for Torah study. Aside from this, I would advise you to keep a collection of different Torah books in your store. Whenever you have a quiet moment make use of the time by studying. If you keep to these hours on a steady basis and still feel a burning desire for Torah, keep your store open an hour less and use that extra time for Torah study. Gradually increase your commitment to Torah and pray to God that He provide you with the freedom to learn full-time. Eventually you will succeed in overcoming the obstacles and be able to devote all your energy to Torah study. On the other hand, if you find that you cannot maintain the schedule, then at least you will have earned a living” (Aveneha Barzel, p. 49 #2).
“Before you go to your work each day, set aside time for Torah study. Aside from this, I would advise you to keep a collection of different Torah books in your store!” – Reb Noson
When your goals are directed to Torah and spirituality, the work you do at your job is reckoned like the Thirty-Nine Works necessary in the building of the Tabernacle. This means that your every-day work and even the mundane things you do are considered holy. However, if you lack that faith and do not set your sights on holiness, then your work is reckoned like the Thirty-Nine Works of hard work and toil (Likutey Moharan I, 11:14).
Set your sights on Torah and prayer. Make them your goals. Everybody goes out to work, but it’s your motive that counts. While some work the Thirty-Nine Works and have nothing more to show for it than a life spent acquiring material gratification, others, though apparently engaged in the very same Thirty-Nine Works, have built themselves a holy tabernacle.
Above all, remember: The thing that counts most is your desire. What is it that you want to achieve; not what you have or haven’t succeeded in achieving. This is true in general, and all the more so when your goals are aimed at spiritual achievements. As Rebbe Nachman said: The main thing is desire – the desire to serve God. There is no one who can say that he serves God according to His greatness and awesomeness. If you have some conception of His greatness, you will not understand how anyone can claim to serve Him. Even the highest angel cannot say that he truly serves Him. Therefore, the main thing is the desire to serve Him (Rebbe Nachman’s Wisdom #51).
The thing that counts most is your desire!
The same holds true when planning your daily agenda. Even though at present you’re having difficulty arranging a schedule that gives you more time for Torah and prayers, don’t give up your desire to do so. If you want it bad enough, you’ll eventually find a way. As the old adage goes: Nothing stands in the way of desire.
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The Rebbe once remarked: Why do you labor so hard and work your lives away so that nothing will remain? Work less, so that something will remain! (As a person labors for the material things of this world, his days and years pass by and are gone. Even everything he worked for must eventually be left behind. But, by working less for the physical, a person can have time for that which does remain with him – his spiritual accomplishments) (Siach Sarfei Kodesh 1-263). Therefore, Rebbe Nachman teaches that a person has only to pray, and study, and pray. If his desire is for Torah and prayer, then automatically his entire day – even the mundane – is spent in Torah and prayer, in the search for spiritual accomplishments, in Godliness.
(Taken from the book Crossing the Narrow Bridge: A Practical Guide to Rebbe Nachman’s Teachings, chapter 6, Torah and Prayer pp. 93-95)
