the epitome of an ovedes hashem

as chodesh nissan nears, we may come to ask ourselves how can i be a better eved or ovedes hashem? when we think of bedikas chometz we just think of cleaning our homes for pesach, getting everything in order, or even confusing "cleaning for pesach" with "spring cleaning". but bedikas chometz is both meant physically and spiritually. we are searching for the physical chometz and spiritual chometz. it is a time of cheshbon hanefesh. we are to look within ourselves and rid ourselves of the midos and traits we wish to remove to come closer to hashem. pesach is about renewal and therefore with the biur chometz we can start with a clean slate and better ourselves and begin taking on new attributes to make up who we are. to add, the simplicity of matza and our simplist self, the self ridding of the "shtick" we removed in biur chometz only brings us closer in our avoda.

there is a story of an exchange between a chabad on campus rebbetzin and a student in the college. over the year the student had a nice relationship with the rabbi and rebbetzin as she was very involved in the programming to keep frumkeit alive on campus. when the student approached the rebbetzin to let her know that she was planning on transferring the following semester, the student was blown away by the rebbetzins response. she honestly expected that the rebbetzin would do anything in her power to keep her from going as she was such an important part of the chabad community and it would be a tremendous loss for the college and community. rather, the rebbetzin responded, "i dont work for this college, i work for hashem. if that is going to be what makes you a happy jewish woman, then that is what is most important." this rebbetzins response is the epitome of what an ovedes hashem is meant to be. at the end of the day, it is hashem who is in charge and he is our ultimate boss. we need to take every opportunity to better ourselves, find where we belong and who and what we want to be. this pesach lets view bedikas chometz as a time of cheshbon hanefesh and may we find ourselves responding to everyday scenarios as ovdei hashem, with hashem present in ALL that we do.