Who's counting?

I was expecting an important piece of mail for a few weeks, and was anxiously awaiting its arrival.

This Shabbos, I was right behind the front door when the mail fell through the mail-slot. One envelope fell onto another. I could not tell if the piece I was looking for had arrived, but another important looking envelope lay on top of the pile. It was from my mortgage bank...

I am set up for paperless billing, and e-notifications, so my heart raced. My bank only writes to me when there is a problem.

I worried that my last payment did not go through. That would mean the check bounced and there would be a fee from the mortgage bank and my regular bank.

Or was it something else?

I had recently renewed the fire insurance policy, and my broker ensured me that all was in order. Was there a lapse? Did the policy expire? 

I knew that I was overreacting by obsessing over what the letter may contain, and the scary scenarios I was anticipating was clearly due to a lack of Bitachon.

After Havdala, I opened the envelope and learned two important lessons.

The letter read: "As part of our evaluation of your property, we appointed a flood determination company to tell us whether or not your house is located in a flood zone. The flood determination company charged a fee for this service..." 

Here we go, I thought, they were going to charge me another fee, as if the closing costs were not enough. 

I read further: "During a routine quality review of your mortgage loan, it was discovered that the flood determination fee, charged upon the closing of your mortgage loan, was overstated and you are entitled to reimbursement. The attached check represents the refund plus interest accrued from..."

Attached was a check for $3.03.

No, not $303.00. Just three little dollars, each holding a shiny penny. 

***

Lesson #1. When we are faced with new challenges, we may feel helpless, clueless and afraid. We tend to fall back on what we already know, or have experienced in the past, in order to anticipate what the outcome may be, and how to approach it.

But life doesn't give us all the answers at once. Life situations aren't always black and white or even grey. Hashem, painted life in a beautiful rainbow of dazzling hues, though sometimes the rainbow seems to disappear behind rain and clouds.

There are endless possibilities of outcomes and solutions to all of life's problems, yet the Yetzer Hara insists that we anticipate the worst-case scenario. The ensuing fear causes a debilitating freeze and immobility which is the perfect setting for a decrease of enthusiasm in our Avodah.

Questions? Challenges? Relax... Don't freeze up. Hashem is in control.

Lesson #2. Someone is keeping track. As a consumer, I would have never delved into my records and discovered this discrepancy. I wouldn't even know where to start.

True, fair business practice obligates the bank to do so, but had the bank not bothered to review the account, no one would have been the wiser.

But they did. And it taught me that everything counts and that someone, somewhere keeps track of everything, even three dollars and three cents... even when I, the consumer, did not care to keep track of it. 

And it reminded me that Someone is always keeping track, and to Him, everything counts.

Receive our posts straight to your inbox!

Subscribe to our mailing, and look out for a subscription confirmation email.