You know how things get into a routine? School every day, the office every day - the same thing happens day in and day out. This can lead to "the same old thing syndrome". We become complacent, lazy, sluggish, and bored with our lives. This can also affect our performance of mitzvos and our attitude toward our Jewishness. The same tefillin, the same prayers, the same cholentÉthings can become very ordinary. This is what the Torah reminds us not to do:

V'lo yechallelu es shem kodshi... And do not desecrate My holy name.

The word for "desecrates" -- yechallelu - comes from the word "chol", meaning mundane and ordinary. How do you desecrate G-d's name? By treating your life and your Jewishness as ordinary and boring. What is the opposite of being ordinary? Being "kadosh" - being holy - which means to be "inspired and uplifted" above the ordinary.

When we get into our finest clothes, clean the house, and prepare the nicest dishes for Shabbat, we are leaving behind the "ordinary" and enter a state of "kedusha" - holiness. We can relate to "being holy" because G-d put a spark of holiness inside of each and every Jew. Our "tzelem Elokim" - spark of G-dliness - is our life force, the part of us that comes directly from Hashem. If we constantly remind ourselves of our own inner goodness, G-dliness, and holiness - by performing mitzvos and by thinking about the holiness of what we are doing - then we will be less likely to fall into the rut of the ordinary. When we say a bracha, we say:

...asher kideshanu b'mitzvosav...who sanctified us with His commandments...

This means that we have a sanctity within us which can inspire and elevate us when we choose to connect with our Creator and do His will. We have the power to make ourselves inspired and energised - by becoming aware of the connection to our Source, and by being grateful for the very gift of life itself, which is constantly being given to us by G-d.

How can we be really kadosh - holy? Does it mean going to a mountain top and communing with nature? No. It means taking the ordinary and dedicating it to Hashem. On Friday night, we use wine, which can make us drunk. We take this symbol of our physical drives, and we lift it up - we make "kiddush". We elevate the physical side of ourselves, symbolised by the wine, and we testify that Hashem is the Creator of all of the physical world with the very same wine which can make us drunk. We elevate the physical to its spiritual source. Next time you listen to kiddush, or do any mitzvah, stop to experience the "kedusha" - you will feel elevated and closer to G-d - and you will feel as if you are leaving the "ordinary" and are entering an elevated level of being -kedushah.