Embracing 'Naase Venishma'

For years, the Gemara about two crowns for "naaseh" and "nishma" sounds like praise for doing before understanding. But the Gemara words it as: first they said naaseh, then nishma. What does that order create? A thought in the introduction to one of the Beis HaLevi's seforim gives the order a new meaning, and the Nefesh HaChaim adds why effort itself binds us to Torah. A neighbor who waters a seed for years with nothing to show for it brings the idea home just before Shavuos.