My Greatest Need: Praying to Find a Clean Sock

First published on chabad.org

My early-morning routine of turning my entire home upside down while running late to find a clean sock turned into a spontaneous prayer session. “G‑d Almighty, please help me find my sock or just make one magically appear. And also please turn back time by 10 minutes to when I was hitting the snooze button.”

Maimonides teaches that the mitzvah of prayer is to call out to G‑d any time one has a need; to pray whenever one is experiencing stress or pain.

Something phenomenal happens when a moment of anxiety turns into a prayer: We fulfill our deepest need: connection.

When my sock appeared—exactly where I had left it—I felt a euphoric relief wash over me like running water. Was that sudden high because I found my sock? Yes, but mostly it was from the joy of knowing that as I run around my home frantically, G‑d is with me.

The Torah’s commandments are the most powerful means of connection in and beyond the universe. They are the method to draw new G‑dly energy into the world. Mitzvah, which literally means “command,” is linked to the Aramaic word tzavta, which means “connection.” Maybe I am commanded to ask G‑d for help whenever I am in need because that act of asking is my greatest need.

My emotional need in that moment of panic is to remember that G‑d is all-powerful. He is running this show, and is the character and producer, the makeup crew and the lighting. He is all of it and beyond it all. In that moment of hysteria, my greatest need is to remember that I have the greatest “influencer” on speed dial. I have a direct line to the CEO of the cosmos. So when I transform my latest anxiety into prayer, I am lifted beyond the anxiety. I no longer feel helpless or desperate.

What feels better than getting the thing I prayed for is that tingling, childlike wonder at how the Source of all is listening to my prayers.

This is true whether or not my prayers receive a “Yes, coming right up, or a “Not yet,” or even a “Really, you think that is what you need right now?” Because the mitzvah of prayer isn’t to have your prayers answered. It is to pray. The moment you turn your need, your anxiety, into a heartfelt request, you have already done the act of connection.

We think our needs are what cause our souls to call out. But maybe our souls need to call out, and that is what causes our bodies’ needs.

Through a simple request, we have the power to turn a moment of anxiety, helplessness and fear into one of infinite connection and a fresh burst of strength.