Tag Archive for "bless" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘bless’

An Amazing Life

Posted on: June 29th, 2010 by tobendlight

What makes life amazing? Joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, darkness and light. And the choice to embrace life with a sense of awe and wonder no matter what. This piece appears in my new book This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The entire text follows.

An Amazing Life
This is an amazing life,
A gift of moments
Precious and dear,
Profound in joy.
Profound in sorrow.

This is an amazing life,
A gift of moments
Glorious and holy,
Rich in laughter,
Rich with tears.

This is an amazing life,
A gift beyond imagination,
Fantastic stories of solitude and adventure,
Tales of darkness and light,
Psalms of frailty and endurance,
Poetry written in time and motion,
In stillness and silence,
In shouts and whispers,
In mourning and wondrous celebration.
This is an amazing life,
A river of blessings,
A gift to cherish
In awe and wonder.

Blessed are the gifts of life.
Blessed is the Giver of life.
Blessed is this amazing life.

Postscript: Here is a link to prayers of and for Thanksgiving.

Please check out my Meet the Author video 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 Source: WikiMedia Commons

Witnessing: A Meditation

Posted on: June 27th, 2010 by tobendlight

Can I really understand someone else’s journey? Can you? Are the simple facts of a death, an illness, a fire, a school shooting, enough to know another person’s heart? To witness is to bless. In our darkest hours, no gift is more important. This meditation is a reminder of the healing power of the witness. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Witnessing: A Meditation
Have you seen the teen who cuts himself with a blade?
Or the youth who sticks herself with needles?
Have you seen a father force back tears while he buries his son?
Or a mother weeping with her daughter, wailing after an assault?
Do you hear the voices of the hungry, the lost, the shocked and confused
Afraid that they may never return from the darkness?

Brother, do not say: “I’ve been there.”
Sister, do not say: “I know that feeling.”
Rather, say: “I see you. I hear you. I honor you.”

Weep with me, not for me.
Pray with me, not about me.
Walk with me, don’t lead me.
This moment is not yours to repair,
Not yours to sooth,
Not yours to ease with the false balm of words.

Have you watched your daughter kiss her mother goodbye on the deathbed?
Have you seen your home consumed in fire?
If you have, bless you.
If you haven’t, bless you.

Have you stood with your sisters and brothers,
Not needing to understand,
Not needing to change the moment,
Witnessing in silence?
If you have, bless you.
If you haven’t, this blessing awaits you.

G-d of holiness and healing,
Teach us to be present as loving witnesses
On this amazing, glorious and dangerous journey.
Help us to stay awake to love and loss,
To be present for those in need.
Help me to see, to hear and to remember –
And so to bless –
The lonely and the lost,
The bereaved and bereft,
With compassion and love.
To stand with them,
As they have stood with me,
In the darkness,
Until I could, once again, face the light.

Postscript: Here is a link to a prayer with a similar theme, “The Cut that Heals.” Regarding losses, here’s a prayer “For Bereaved Children” and a “Meditation on the Burial of a Child.”

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Photo credit: Hosparus

For the Patriarch

Posted on: June 19th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer celebrates Dad. It’s part of a series of prayers for family including: “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Brothers,” “For Our Sisters” and “For the Family Historian.” To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. The photo is me and my dad in Key West, Florida, where I became a father for the first time.

For the Patriarch
For our patriarch,
A song of dignity and honor.

Guardian of mitzvot,
Keeper of truths,
Hand of protection and peace,
We are blessed with your humor and compassion,
Your zest for life
And your zeal for family.
You remind us to open our lives to G-d’s majesty and mystery
G-d’s justice and mercy.
You remind us to seek radiance and splendor,
Awe for creation and compassion for each other,
And choose joy over grief,
Laughter over tears.

G-d of fatherly patience and strength,
Bless our family with love
And our patriarch with vision, endurance and hope.
May his devotion inspire us to righteousness and charity,
Guided by Torah.
Bless our lives with abundance
And our days with vigor,
So that we bring majesty and mystery to our lives
And into the world.

Blessed are You, G-d of our fathers,
Who provides just and righteous men
In every generation.

Postscript: If you like this prayer, try: “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Brothers,” “For Our Sisters” and “For the Family Historian.”

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Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat

Posted on: June 17th, 2010 by tobendlight

I peeked. Yes, once I peeked open my eyes during the S’hema. The tradition is to focus one’s mind uniquely on this prayer. To do so, many people cover their eyes. So do I. This once, I peeked. I needed to see. What I thought I saw — could it have been real? — led to this short, short, 108 word story.

To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Mendel Baruch
One Shabbat morning, Mendel Baruch recited a perfect S’hema. His mind clear, his heart pure, his very soul declaring the unity of G-d. The entire congregation called out to heaven in love with heaven’s own words.
“S’hema Yisrael…” The chant rising from the men and women…
“The Eternal our G-d…” Almost visible, like smoke forming the script of Torah…
“The Eternal is One.” Like calligraphy drawn with song rising to praise the Holy Name.
When the words touched both heaven and earth, the angels joined the prayer. In that moment, the space between here and beyond was filled with Torah. And nothing, nothing existed but G-d’s holy word.

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Chava bat Chana

Posted on: June 10th, 2010 by tobendlight

I like to belt it out in song. The Kahal Shabbat service at Beth Emet: The Free Synagogue bursts with energy and joy. It’s perfect for me. Then, one Shabbat, it struck me that I could also pray by listening. This story is the result of that lovely Sabbath in which I let my song be sung — and my prayers prayed — by this wonderful community, by listening to the prayer. I still belt it out most of the time. Once in awhile, I pray with my ears instead. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Chava bat Chana
Chava bat Chana doesn’t pray like you or me. We sing. We chant. We lift our voices to G-d Most High, but Chava doesn’t utter a single word. She sits in the back of the synagogue, her arms resting gently in her lap. She takes a deep breath, then another. Her eyes close, her pulse slows, her mind empties until everything that makes her Chava bat Chana is still and quiet and ready. She listens to the one voice woven of the many. Yitzchack, who’s just buried his wife. Deborah, who’s ready to give birth. Chaim, who’s destined to become a rabbi. And Miriam, who lost a leg to illness. And Chava hears it all. Grief and joy. Pride and fear. The one voice woven of the many. And tears, tears well up from heaven into Chava’s heart.
Chava bat Chana doesn’t pray like you or me. She prays the secret prayer of our mothers, and their mothers and their mothers before them.

For Travel

Posted on: May 26th, 2010 by tobendlight

I carry a laminated copy of Tifilat Haderech, the Traveler’s Prayer, in my suitcase. There are some seemingly antiquated references in it, such as the request for protection against wild beasts. The night that bears visited my camp site at Mowich Lake near Mount Rainier, the reference suddenly made perfect sense. With vacation season about to begin, here’s another way to ask G-d for safe travel. And if you like outdoor adventure, check out my prayer for being “On the Trail.” To listen along as you read. click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Travel
G-d who watches over us,
Watch over this journey.
Keep us free from affliction and strife,
Safe from danger and wrong doing,
Protected in Your loving sight.
May we know strength and good fortune on the way,
Rest and peace upon our return.
May this travel be blessed with the shelter of Your gentle arms,
The guidance of Your mighty hand,
The gift of Your countless blessings.

Bless our moments apart,
Bless our moments together.
Grace upon departure,
Joy upon return.
Remembering to praise and bless
Your Holy Name
Wherever You lead us.

Postscript: My other traveler’s prayers include: “On the Road,” “On the Trail” and “Being Lost.” “On the Trail” is one of my favorites.

For the Matriarch

Posted on: May 9th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is part of a series of prayers celebrating family. Each begins with a psalm-like introduction and end with a blessing. The photo is one of my mother’s publicity shots from her career as an actress. Among her credits, she was a cast member of America’s first theater in the round, Circle Players, and was an early television star, including the show Mixed Doubles. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Matriarch
For our matriarch,
A song of strength and hope.

Guardian of generations,
Keeper of traditions,
Hand of guidance and love,
We are blessed by your wisdom and purpose,
Your work to bind us to our heritage,
Your dedication to peace in our homes
And joy in our lives.
You remind us to open our hearts to our brothers and sisters,
Fathers and mothers,
Daughters and sons.
You remind us to honor and cherish cousins of cousins of cousins,
And to live together, in harmony,
By G-d’s holy word.

G-d of motherly wisdom and grace,
Bless our family with health
And our matriarch with vision, endurance and hope.
May her devotion inspire us to live by our highest ideals,
Guided by Torah.
Bless our lives with laughter
And our days with purpose,
So that we bring radiance and splendor to our family
And to the world.

Blessed are You, G-d of our mothers,
Who provides just and righteous women
In every generation.

Postscript: If you like this prayer, you may also like: “For the Patriarch,” “For Our Brothers,” “For Our Sisters”and “For the Family Historian.”

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 Courtesy of Adrian Solovy

Posts Tagged ‘bless’

An Amazing Life

Witnessing: A Meditation

For the Patriarch

Mendel Baruch: S’hema on Shabbat

Chava bat Chana

For Travel

For the Matriarch

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