For it was taught: “This is my God, and I will 'adorn' God (Exodus 15:2): Adorn yourself before God in commandments: make a beautiful sukkah in God’s honor, a beautiful lulav, a beautiful shofar, beautiful fringes, and a beautiful Torah scroll, and write it for God with fine ink, a fine reed, and a skilled penman, and wrap it with beautiful silks. [Soncino translation. Edited for gender neutrality and modernity]
Abba Shaul says: Ve’anveihu should be interpreted as if it were written in two words: Ani vaHu, me and Him [God]. Be similar, as it were, to Him, the Almighty: Just as He is compassionate and merciful, so too should you be compassionate and merciful.
The Rabbi of Lublin was known to take great pains to obtain an especially beuatiful etrog without regard to the price and place it in a holder of made of gold. Nevertheless, on the first morning of Sukkot, when the time came for him to make the blessing on the lulav, its exterior was already blackened from being touched by all the people of the city, who all had wanted to make their blessing on this particular etrog. But he was not strict at all about this. On the contrary, with an even greater joy in performing the mitzvah he took the etrog in his hand and kissed it, and recited the verse from Song of Songs, "I am black, but I am beautiful."
As quoted in Itrurei Torah
In each source we see a different approach to the idea of making mitzvot beautiful.
How do the approaches differ from each other?
Which approach most resonates with you?