A mitzvah is a G‑dly deed. Every time a soul performs a mitzvah—giving a coin to charity, studying Torah, respecting one's family —it acts as a "partner with G‑d in creation" and brings G‑d's presence into the world. The mitzvot are all physical deeds—so the soul can perform them only while a resident of the physical world, invested within an Animal Soul and a body. Thus the duration of its physical life is the soul's only opportunity to perform mitzvot. Everything that comes before and after is just a prequel and sequel to the soul's greatest and loftiest moments—its acts of connecting the G‑dly with the mundane.