We read in Parashat Vayetze of Yaakov Avinu's arrangement with his father-in-law, Lavan, whereby he would work for seven years and then be given Lavan's daughter, Rachel, as a wife. As we know, Lavan deceived Yaakov, bringing Yaakov at the end of the seven years his other daughter, Leah, instead of Rachel. He then allowed Yaakov to marry Rachel a week later, on condition that he work for another seven years. The Torah makes a very surprising comment about the first seven years that Yaakov spent working for Lavan in exchange for Rachel's hand in marriage: ויהיו בעיניו כימים אחדים באהבתו אותה – "They were in his eyes like just a few days, because of his love for her" (29:20). This seems to mean that because Yaakov loved Rachel so much, the seven years he spent working so he could marry her felt like just a few days. At first glance, this is backwards. We would think just the opposite – that since Yaakov loved Rachel so much, and wanted to marry her, those seven years would feel like an eternity! Why did these seven years seem like "just a few days"?! The answer is that this was not just about Rachel and Yaakov's feelings for her. Yaakov understood that he was now about to embark on the historical mission of building the Jewish Nation. As he slept along the roadside on his way to Lavan's house, he beheld a prophecy promising him that he would be the father of Hashem's special nation. Furthermore, Rashi famously tells that the stones beneath his head merged into a single stone – and some commentators explain that these were twelve stones that came together, symbolizing the fact that Yaakov would have twelve sons that together would form Am Yisrael . Yaakov knew that he was now building a great nation. And if this was what it was all about, then indeed, a period of seven years isn't a long time to wait. Each and every one of us, too, is building something great. Every household, every institution, is another vitally important link in the chain of Am Yisrael . Thus, everyone involved in building a home is, like Yaakov Avinu, involved in building something monumental, building the Jewish Nation. And just like Yaakov Avinu, we need to remember this in order to keep a proper perspective when challenges arise during our process of building. Raising a family can be fraught with struggles. Children get sick, they challenge their parents' authority, they don't always succeed in school, and they aren't always obedient. Finances are sometimes very tight. The house might have problems which the family cannot afford to fix. Not everything is going to proceed as smoothly as we want it to. When struggles arise, we need to remember Yaakov Avinu's perspective. When we build a home, we are building Am Yisrael . We are building something special, something monumental. And whenever we build something great, complications are going to arise – but it's so worth it. Whatever struggles we face over the course of our "building" should be considered as ימים אחדים , as just a little inconvenience which we are happy to go through for the lofty objective of doing our part of build Am Yisrael .