They tell a story of a Chassid who would go to his Rebbe every year and ask for a brocha to be rich, and every year the Rebbe wouldn't give him a brocha. One year, the Chassid asks the same brocha, and the Rebbe tells him to give him 400 rubles and he will be rich. The Chassid was shocked! He wanted to be rich, not poor! So he goes back home to his wife, and tells her the news. They realize that if they want to get the 400 rubles, they need to sell their horse and buggy, their entire income. Finally, they decide to do it, since Rebbe always knows best. Once the Chassid gives the Rebbe the money, everything he touches turns to gold. He is in many businesses in a short time, and becomes a very wealthy man. Back by the Rebbe, one of his Chasidim asked: Why did you make him give you 400 rubles? The Rebbe answered that every year he asked for the same brocha: My horse should be gazunt, My horse should be healthy. How much money can you make from a horse? I realized I had to get the horse out of the picture. So I told him to give me the horse. Then, he saw his children hungry, and asked that he should be rich, and now he is.
There are many times when we ask Brochas from Hashem and restrict his answers. If we ask for our "horse" to be healthy, then we are loosing out on any other endeavors that could be blessed. May we all be zoche to not hold back with what we ask for or how we bless, and let Hashem fill in the blanks with his imagination.
-Rabbi Manis Freidman ("Its good to know Tanya")
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