Now, during the winter months, we read in the second Beracha (blessing) of the Amidah (the standing prayer), “Mashiv haruach u'morid hageshem.” Mashiv haruach, that Hashem, you blow the wind, u'morid hageshem. And you bring down the rain. The simple explanation of this line is that we want to praise Hashem because He gives us rain. Back in the day, the way people would have their business was through agriculture. So without rain, people would fast if they didn't have rain, because it would take a tremendous hit to their business. Over here, we're praising Hashem as the one who sends down the rain that ultimately brings us our parnasah (livelihood). That's Hashem's praise.
The question is: Why do we say Mashiv haruach, that Hashem blows the wind? Why not just say, “Hashem, we praise You; You send down the rain that allows us to be successful”? The answer is that if we know how the rain comes about, we know first that the rain is in the ocean, and you have condensation, where the water goes up into the clouds. But we know that if it's just going to rain back onto the ocean, it's not going to help anyone. In order for the rain to come to the fields, you need the clouds to go from over the sea and be blown by the wind over our fields, so the rain can ultimately fall. So, in order for the rain to come down, there's a step beforehand: Mashiv haruach. What's the message? The message is that when we praise Hashem for giving us parnasah, we don't just say, “Hashem, thank You for the money. Thank You, Hashem, that I got my paycheck.” Any businessman knows how many steps there are until you finally make your money. Imagine a person is in wholesale. What does he have to do? He has to start a business. He needs an office. Then he needs to go to China and find a factory. Then he needs designers. Then he needs salesmen. Then he needs the buyers to want to buy from him. Then he needs the distribution to go okay. Then he needs consumers to want his product. Finally, a few days later, when they decide to pay him, he's able to cash a check and put money in his pocket.
The message here is that if a person only praises Hashem by saying, “Hashem, You gave me money to put in my pocket,” he's only activating 1% of the relationship he could have with Hashem. He's only looking at that one final step, where he's recognizing Hashem and praising Him. But if you thank Hashem and praise Him for the Mashiv haruach, saying, “Hashem, I want to be connected with You for every step of the way that brings me to my parnasah. I want to praise You for how great You are, not just for the morid hageshem, but for the Mashiv haruach also,” you don't understand how much greater your relationship with Hashem will be. You'll be seeing Hashem through every step of the process.
This reminds me of what the Gemara says: Every time a person prays, he's supposed to be mechadesh davar. He's supposed to bring up something new. The question is: How could you read from the same text day after day? We read the same Amidah with the same words, and people tend to even space out because it's so repetitive. How could a person bring up something new every Amidah? The answer is to think of our conversations with our spouse or our friends. When we talk about what's going on in the office, do we say the same thing over? Or do we talk about exactly what's going on that day? What's the new item that happened that week? If you focus on the details of what's going on in your day-to-day, it's so easy to come up with something new to talk to Hashem about every day.
This is what it means when we say that Hashem says, “I don't want to just hear about the bottom line, because the bottom line is repetitive. The bottom line is something you'll just be saying the same thing every day. But you talk about the day-to-day details of how everything leads to the end of the day.” Then Hashem says, “We're going to have the most wonderful relationship in your tefillah (prayer).” You'll realize you'll be having a new relationship, with new things to talk about every day.