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Archive for the ‘Praises’ Category

Prayer for You, Prayer for Me

Posted on: September 2nd, 2012 by tobendlight

The secret to prayer is no secret at all. To pray for yourself, pray for someone else. And the secret to compassion is no secret, either. Pray for everyone. I use this prayer for the 17th day of counting the Omer. It appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Prayer for You, Prayer for Me
What brilliance is this?
What divine secret of blessing,
That my prayer for you
Is a prayer for me?

Can love be so simple
Or holiness so close,
Can joy be as near
Or awe and wonder as ready
To blossom in the glow of faith?

May you know peace.
May you know health and healing.
May you know hope.
May you know laughter and delight.

What majestic gift,
G-d of Old,
Have You hidden
Inside our prayers,
That my prayers for others
Resound with joy
And echo in my being?

Ancient One,
Master of Blessings,
You call upon us
To summon
the light of holiness
Into the world with our prayers.

Postscript: This is another offering in my series of prayers about prayer, including: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “To Pray.”

Please check out my ELItalk “Falling in Love with Prayer” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. 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 Credit: חאן רוח גלילית

Quick Prayer at a Turning Point

Posted on: June 16th, 2012 by tobendlight

I find myself making decisions quickly as I settle into my new life in Israel. Not knowing the basic rules of living as an insider–culture, social norms, business etiquette, traffic laws, you name it–comes down to getting good advice and going on instinct. This is from my series of “Quick Prayers,” to be said when making a decision which will change life in fundamental ways.

Quick Prayer at a Turning Point
Holy one,
Grant me wisdom and grace
As I make choices
That will change the rhythm of my life
And the pattern of my days.
Bless me with the ability to
Listen for Your guidance,
Trust my decisions,
Embrace the unknown
And rejoice in the adventure.

Blessed are You, Source of strength,
Let these choices become blessings
Of health and prosperity,
Of happiness and service,
For me and everyone I touch.

Postscript: Other prayers in this series include: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk” and “Quick Meditation at Night.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Planting Seeds

Posted on: June 13th, 2012 by tobendlight

This prayer recognizes that everything we do has the potential to heal or to harm. So we ask for G-d’s help to plant seeds of holiness with each word, each act, each deed.

Planting Seeds
Every act is a seed:
Every laugh, every smile.
Every song, every dance.
Every outstretched arm
And every open heart.
A seed of holiness.
A seed of redemption.
A seed of grace.

Every act is a seed:
Every frown, every angry word.
Every dislike, every distain.
Every closed fist,
And every hardened heart.
A seed of loneliness.
A seed of isolation.
A seed of despair.

How many seeds have I planted,
G-d of Old,
Seeds that hurt,
Seeds that heal?
How many seeds have I yet to plant,
Seeds that hurt,
Seeds that heal?

Ancient One,
Grant me the discernment
And the skill
To plant seeds of wonder and awe
In my life and the world.
Let me be a source of wholeness,
Let me be a source of thanksgiving,
So that my life yields
A garden of blessings
In service to Your Holy Name.

Postscript: Here are several other prayers that use the ‘seeds’ metaphor: “Messengers,” “For New Love” and “I Am a King: A Meditation for Men.” Here are prayers that employ a ‘garden’ metaphor: “Life as a Garden,” “Garden of Blessings,” “For Spring,” “Meditation on a Child’s First Torah Reading” and “For Rain.”

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Garden of Blessings

Posted on: June 6th, 2012 by tobendlight

We live in G-d’s garden, G-d’s world, G-d’s universe. It is a garden of blessings.

Garden of Blessings
Holy One,
G-d of Creation,
Source of Light,
Fountain of Wonder,
Life is a garden of blessings,
Alive with beauty,
Nourished by the holiness of Your Word,
Fed by the love of Your People.

Ancient One,
Your garden blooms with joys and sorrows,
With hopes and yearnings,
In the warmth of mercy,
In the breath of faith.

As for me,
G-d of Old,
Grant me the wisdom
To walk these paths gently,
With awe and thanksgiving,
In times of rejoicing
And in moments of despair.
Let me see Your glory in all that is,
All that was
And all that will be.
Then I will be like a flower
That always blooms,
Fresh and new,
In service to Your Holy Name.

Postscript: Here are other prayers that employ a ‘garden’ metaphor: “For Spring,” “Meditation on a Child’s First Torah Reading,” “For Rain” and “Life as a Garden.” Here are prayers that use a ‘seeds’ metaphor: “Messengers,” “For New Love” and “I Am a King: A Meditation for Men.”

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. 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 Credit: USDA NRSA Photo Gallery

This Moment

Posted on: June 3rd, 2012 by tobendlight

Every moment is another opportunity to teach and to serve, to summon holiness and love into the world. This appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

This Moment
How did I arrive in this place?
This joy and wonder.
This grief and loss.
This hour. This moment. This life.
Choices. Events. G-d.
My decisions. The decisions of others.
The hand of our Creator.

Holy One,
Help me to see that I am exactly
Where I need to be
To learn and to serve,
To be and to become,
To live as an instrument of healing and love,
Charity and forgiveness,
Kindness and grace.

How did I arrive in this moment?
How did I get this blessing,
This gift,
To be exactly where I can learn and serve
In G-d’s Holy Name?

Postscript: Here are more prayers with a similar theme: “Being Present,” “Leaving” and “Small Moments.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Photo Source: Alden Solovy (in the Grand Canyon)

To Pray

Posted on: April 24th, 2012 by tobendlight

Why do I want a heart of prayer? So that I can sing G-d’s praises fully, deeply, from my entire being. It’s another prayer about prayer, such as: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

To Pray
G-d, bless me with a heart of prayer:
To lift my voice,
To sing Your praise,
To extol Your wisdom,
To recall Your deeds,
To proclaim Your glory,
To declare Your majesty,
To recount Your ways,
To remember Your works,
To delight in Your gifts,
To rejoice in Your Word.

Let prayer flow from my lips.
Let me join the song of my people,
Filling the realms above
And the realms below
With joy and wonder,
So that holiness, radiance and awe,
Walk with us
Throughout our days.

Postscript: See also: “Quick Meditation for Today,” “Quick Meditation at Noon,” “Your Name: Quick Prayer at Dusk,” and “Quick Meditation at Night.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: First Baptist Church of Glenns Ferry

Sing Out

Posted on: April 10th, 2012 by tobendlight

Singing is a powerful expression of prayer. It can bring awe, mystery and holiness. No wonder that whenever I feel the light of G-d’s gifts enter my life, I want to sing out. Here’s a prayer that calls on us to celebrate Divine gifts with song. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Sing Out
When you feel the light of holiness,
The radiance of love,
The shimmering of glory,
The luminous glow of spirit…

When you inhale wonder
And exhale awe…

When mystery and majesty flow
Through your pulsing veins…

When G-d’s whisper becomes a thundering
Blast of the Shofar…

When your soul remembers its
Place in the heavens…

Sing out!
Sing out your joy.
Sing out your praise.

When you feel the light of Torah,
The radiance of Mitzvot,
The shimmering of prayer,
The luminous glow of loving-kindness…

Sing out!
Sing out to G-d.
Your voice will join the chorus of angels
And your heart will know
The secret of eternity.

Postscript: Here are three related prayers: “For the Gift of Song,” “Sing Hallelujah” and “A Song that Holds My Heart.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: Yoga Sanctuary

Whispered Prayer

Posted on: January 31st, 2012 by tobendlight

This meditation — a riff off of Psalm 150 — is a reminder that the voice of prayer resounds in the heavens. It ends with a classic chatimah, a closing seal to the prayer, which is taken from Jewish liturgy. It asserts that G-d hears our prayers. This prayer appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press. It’s also available as a poster. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Whispered Prayer
Your whispered prayer
Your secret hope
Your quiet yearning
Have holiness and power.
They resound in the heavens
And echo on high.
They are drum and cymbal,
Trumpet and horn,
Proclaiming your faith,
Music of generations,
Proclaiming your hope,
Hymns of the heart,
Proclaiming your dedication
To the G-d of all Being,
Source and Shelter,
Rock and Redeemer,
Light and Truth.

Your whispered prayer
Is the song of the ages.
Your secret hope
Is the light of tomorrow.
Your quiet yearning
Is the voice of eternity.

Blessed are You Adonai,
Who hears prayer.
.ברוך אתה ה שומע חפלה
Baruch atah Adonai, shomei’a t’filah.

Postscript: This prayer is available as a downloadable PDF poster and is from my series of prayers about prayer, including: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Prayers of My Heart” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.”

Photo Source: Whispered Prayer PDF poster

Prayers of My Heart

Posted on: December 21st, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a short and simple prayer about living with joy and tenderness, guided by G-d’s word. To listen, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Prayers of My Heart
G-d of millennia,
G-d of generations
And the great expanse,
I have but a moment,
A flicker of time to
Bless and be blessed.

These are the prayers of my heart:
Tenderness and Shabbat.
The spiritual practice of love.
To know and not to know.
To be strong in faith and open to adventure.
To laugh in the wind.
To smile in the sunshine.
To play in the rain.
To live in dignity.
To consecrate the hours.
To sanctify my days.
To live Your Torah.
To praise Your name.
Shabbat and tenderness.
The spiritual practice of love.

Postscript: Here are four related prayers: “For Devotion,” “For Humility,” “For Joy” and “For Service.” And here are more prayers about prayer: “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released,” “Whispered Prayer,” “To Pray” and “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.”

Every Heart

Posted on: November 23rd, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a prayer in praise of G-d’s radiance and majesty in the world, creating a lovely transition from Shabbat into the week. It carries the age-old Jewish longing that the power of rejoicing in prayer will herald a time of wholeness, holiness and peace, echoing the theme and rhythm of the Aleinu. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This prayer will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Every Heart
Let us exalt
Your Holy Name.
Proclaiming Your Majesty.
Proclaiming Your Sovereignty,
Proclaiming Your Splendor.
Let our limbs announce Your Radiance,
And our voices declare Your Glory.
Let us sing and shout,
So that the hills echo with praise,
And the streets pulse with prayer.
So that the seas swell with rejoicing,
And the cities vibrate with thanksgiving.
Then the universe will expand with wonder,
And the heavenly host will join in the song.
The gates of righteousness will burst open.
The path to mystery will shine.
The way to holiness will sparkle.
The route to beauty will gleam.
Every heart will turn to You,
Adonai our G-d,
In joyous surrender.
Every heart will know gratitude and love,
Happiness and consolation.
Justice and mercy will reign,
And peace will hallow the earth.

Postscript: Other prayers of praise include “Dance Hallelujah” and “Sing Hallelujah.” Here’s a link to prayers of Thanksgiving.

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. Connect with To Bend Light on Facebook and on Twitter.

Photo credit: Iowa State University

Archive for the ‘Praises’ Category

Prayer for You, Prayer for Me

Quick Prayer at a Turning Point

Planting Seeds

Garden of Blessings

This Moment

To Pray

Sing Out

Whispered Prayer

Prayers of My Heart

Every Heart

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