In Parashat Pekudei, there’s an interesting phrase regarding the gathering of materials for the Mishkan. It says
דים והותר
There was enough and there was surplus.
That’s an oxymoron. How could there be enough and be extra? Seemingly, it doesn’t make sense.
The Or HaHaim HaKadosh explains that a miracle happened, all the people wanted to give, they were excited and brought a lot. If 10 lbs. of gold was needed for something, they brought 15. So there was surplus. But how would people feel if they had brought supplies that weren’t used?
Hashem didn’t want anyone to feel bad that his contribution was unneeded so He made a miracle and it was all used.
We can compare this situation to someone baking for a bake sale. Yad Yosef, like many organizations, has an annual bake sale. At the end of the day there are often cakes that go unsold. The hostess usually pays a little and keeps them for Shabbat. But imagine if the baker of the leftover cakes was there at the end of the day and saw, after all her effort, that no one bought her cake. Maybe she had to make a second batch because the first batch burned. Maybe she had to run out and get some more ingredients. She might feel bad that no one bought it after she went through all that trouble.
Well, G-d is sensitive to our feelings. He doesn’t want us to feel that we put in work and went unrecognized.
So G-d made a miracle and there were no extras. This way, no one felt like their contributions didn’t go in.
And we learn that this concept is always there. G-d appreciates our efforts, our feelings and our desires to come close to him, in any activity.
The Mishnah says a rule- There is no such thing as being an accomplice and not getting rewarded. We reward accomplices.
For example, a Hatzalah driver rushes to a scene and finds there other responders already there. He might think he wasn’t needed, that it was a waste of time, but there’s no such thing.
In our religion we believe that whether you were needed or not, you were needed.
These feelings, wants and efforts are placed in Hashem’s “emotional bank account” כביכול (this phrase was coined by Stephen Covey to describe what happens when you do a favor for someone- it goes into an emotional bank account for you to get paid back at a later date.)
G-d has a bank account of our wants, feelings and desires. We should never feel that our efforts are for naught. Everyone’s efforts are appreciated by Hashem, but we don’t always see it. We must know though, that when we put forth effort, it’s never wasted. When it looks like you didn’t do something, you actually did.
In the days of old, the new month was decided based on testimony of witnesses. But what happens if a witness comes forward and he wasn’t needed? If they already had a witness? They sit him down and question him anyway, so he shouldn’t feel his efforts were in vain.
We can’t quite do the same exactly, but the mussar is there.
We see how often a Gadol gets told the same story over and over and he reacts as if it’s the first time he heard it, so that the person doesn’t feel that his words were undesired.
Hashem cares about our feelings and a part of Bitachon is knowing that. Every ounce of effort is accounted for. Nothing is for naught. If we are working on a project, making phone calls etc. and it doesn’t come to fruition, our efforts still count.
We learn an important lesson from this - we should do the same with people. We should give recognition even when it doesn’t seem necessary.