For most of his life, the Maggid of Mezherich lived in terrible poverty.
When conditions grew especially difficult, his wife groaned, and, hearing her, the Maggid groaned as well.
At that moment, he heard a proclamation in heaven that he had lost his position in the world to come, because a person of his stature should not have descended to such a level.
Joyously, the Maggid exclaimed, “Now I can serve God in truth, without any desire to receive a reward!”
—Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz