Waving the Lulav

The Mishna in Sukkah 3:9 says that the custom is to wave the lulav while reciting the Hodu verse (found in Psalms 118).

What is interesting is how the waving is done. There are seven words in the verse: "Hodu LaHashem Ki Tov, Ki LeOlam Chasdo". In English: "Praise Hashem for He is good, for everlasting is His kindness." As we read word by word, we wave the lulav in the following manner: Hodu (forward), LaHashem (pause), Ki (right), Tov (back), Ki (left), LeOlam (up), Chasdo (down). This waving in a specific direction per word is a custom; but the question is, what is the deeper meaning of this custom? What is the connection between the words and the specific direction in which we wave the lulav? (There is another custom in how to wave the lulav, but I am focusing on this one.)

I would suggest the following. "Hodu" means "Praise"; the very first step in our Torah lives must be to see the goodness of Hashem and praise him for it. This act of "seeing" is of course something that only happens in front of us, the things that our eyes fall upon. When we say "LaHashem" we pause and cease our waving, for in the very presence of God even the actions of shaking and trembling cannot be mustered; we are frozen in place. "Ki" means "For" or "Because", both of which are terms that signify a "trigger" or "cause", namely, an "action": thus does both usages of the word "Ki" in the verse correspond to the right and left, which represent our two arms, the things which represent "action", all of which must be in the service of God. For "Tov" ("Good") we shake backwards, for God's goodness is so omnipresent and penetrating and total that the vast majority of it is not even visible to us: it is behind the scenes. "LeOlam" means "Forever"; God is by definition the only truly eternal thing, thus we wave upwards towards Him. And finally for "Chasdo" ("His Kindness") we shake downwards in acknowledgment of the enormous kindness which pours down upon us from God.