Quiet

End_of_nightThis prayer is about the holiness of quiet. It captures an essential aspect of the Sabbath. Especially here in Jerusalem, as Shabbat approaches, there is first an intensity of motion and doing – preparations for Shabbat, social activities, parties, smachot – and then the city slows, calms and a tangible quiet settles over us all. In this quiet, so much more can be heard. This prayer appears in my second volume from CCAR Press, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings.

Quiet
In the quiet,
My breath is the wind,
My heartbeat is thunder.

In the quiet,
My spirit settles,
And my soul rests.

In the quiet,
All that I am,
Meets everyone I might be.

G-d,
Grant me moments of gentleness,
Moments of gratitude,
Moments of calm,
Moments of peace,
So that I might hear the echoes of eternity,
And the stillness within.
So that I might live a life
Of joy and laughter,
Wisdom and dignity,
Love and honor,
In service to myself,
In service to others,
In service to Your holy name.

Blessed are the gentle
Moments of grace.

© 2019 CCAR Press from This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings

Postscript:  Here’s a prayer “For the Arrival of Shabbat” and a question to G-d “About Shabbat.” You might also enjoy this “Shabbat Blessing for Children Who Have Left Home,” a Shabbat “Blessing for a Spouse / Partner” and two short, short stories – also known as flash fiction – about Shabbat: “Sarah Rivkah: A Challah Baking Story” and “Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat.”

Please check out my CCAR Press Grateful/Joyous/Precious trilogy. The individual books are: This Joyous Soul, This Grateful Heart, and This Precious Life. Here’s a link to my ELItalk, “Falling in Love with Prayer..” For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: WikiMedia Commons

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