Parshat Eikev
Some of the greatest blessings in our lives are also the easiest to overlook.
Not because they’ve become less meaningful.
Simply because they’ve become familiar.
We don’t consciously decide to stop appreciating the people, opportunities, and gifts that shape our lives. It happens gradually, almost unnoticed. What once filled us with gratitude quietly becomes part of the background of everyday life.
Familiarity has a curious effect on us.
It doesn’t diminish the value of what we have.
It changes our awareness of it.
As Moses prepares the Jewish people to enter the Land of Israel, he doesn’t warn them about the challenges that await them.
He warns them about abundance.
“You will eat and be satisfied,” he says. Then comes the unexpected warning: “Beware lest you forget.”
The longer we live with a blessing, the easier it becomes to assume it has always been there. What once inspired gratitude becomes expected. And without even realizing it, we begin to tell ourselves a different story.
Gratitude begins when we remember the whole story.
It’s a striking sequence.
The Torah doesn’t suggest that prosperity is the problem. Nor does it ask us to deny the effort we’ve invested in building our lives.
Instead, it recognizes something profoundly human.
After describing a life of abundance, Moses imagines a person saying, “My strength and the might of my hand have produced this wealth.”
Not because their effort didn’t matter.
But because it’s easy to forget everything else that did.
The people who shaped us.
The opportunities we didn’t create.
The abilities we’ve been given.
The countless blessings that quietly made our achievements possible.
Perhaps that’s why the Torah places such emphasis on remembering.
Gratitude begins when we remember the whole story.
As Shabbat approaches, may we have the wisdom to notice what has become familiar, the humility to remember those who helped bring us here, and the gratitude to see our lives through a wider lens.
Shabbat Shalom!
