Tag Archive for "blessing" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘blessing’

To Know Your Word

Posted on: October 28th, 2010 by tobendlight

Connecting with the divine is the theme of this series prayers including: “To Hear Your Voice,” “To Seek Your Glory” and “To Seek Your Love.” I use this prayer during week 6 of counting the Omer. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This piece appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

To Know Your Word
Divine teacher,
Source of knowledge, wisdom and insight,
Well of secrets,
Creation sings your praise.
Sea, earth and sky proclaim your majesty.
Your word resounds around us,
And Your voice echoes throughout the universe.

G-d of ancient secrets,
Holy One of Old,
Open my heart to Your guidance
And my mind to Your teaching,
So that I may know Your word
And live by Your holy command,
So that I may be of service to You,
Your people,
And Your Torah.

Blessed are You, Rock of Truth,
Your word resounds from the heavens,
Your teachings fill the earth.

Postscript: Please read the related prayers: “To Hear Your Voice,” “To Seek Your Glory” and “To Seek Your Love.”

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 Source: The Sefer Torah Recycling Network

These Blessings

Posted on: October 21st, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer celebrates the blessings in my life, in our lives. To listen along as you read, please click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

These Blessings
For the blessings in our lives,
The blessings of our lives,
And the blessings of the people who are part of our lives,
We give thanks.

These gifts heal:
Silence, stillness, enthusiasm and joyful noise.
Awareness, insight, energy and resources.
The gifts of parents and children,
Of students and teachers.

These blessings nurture:
Joy, gratitude, freedom and bravery.
Trust, strength, humor and sweetness.
The blessings of honesty and kindness,
Of faith and love.

For the gifts and blessings of our lives
We sing and dance,
We shout and laugh,
And we pledge our lives in service to each other,
In celebration, in wonder and in awe.

Praised are You, G-d our Maker,
Source of gifts and blessings.

Postscript: Here’s another prayer with a similar theme: “An Amazing Life.”

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Dwelling Place

Posted on: September 24th, 2010 by tobendlight

A prayer/poem about the meaning of home, posted for Sukkot.

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

Dwelling Place
This is my dwelling-place.
The place of my bounty and sustenance,
Study and reflection.

This is my living-place.
The place of my comfort and rest,
Quiet and peace.

This is my working-place.
The place of my dedication and strength,
Pride and honor.

This is my loving-place.
The place of my family and heart,
Warmth and shelter.

This is my memory-place.
The place of my seasons and sensations,
Traditions and transitions.

This is my hoping-place.
The place of my dreams and desires,
Visions and wonder.

This is my mourning-place.
The place of endings and beginnings,
Grief and renewal.

This is my dying-place.
The place of my release and surrender,
Letting go and passing on.

This is my dwelling-place.
The place of my moments and years,
Blessings and gifts,
Sabbaths of the heart,
Sabbaths of the soul.

Postscript: Other songs and prayers of the Spiritual Traveler include: “Come Walk,” “Bird is Bird,” “River,” “Soarbird” and “I am Breathing.” Click here for the entire list of songs of the Spiritual Traveler.

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.

Rejoice!

Posted on: September 19th, 2010 by tobendlight

Sukkot is z’man simcahteinu, “the time of our rejoicing.” We’re commanded to be happy during Sukkot. Commanded? While joy is an emotion, it’s also a spiritual practice. So practice. For a week, the choice to make is joy. This prayer/poem is about the practice of joy. It appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Rejoice!
Dance one-thousand steps toward heaven.
Sing one-thousand hymns of praise.
Breathe one-thousand breaths of glory.
Rejoice!

Climb one-thousand steps of courage.
Chant one-thousand hymns of hope.
Laugh one-thousand breaths of healing.
Rejoice!

Walk one-thousand steps of power.
Hum one-thousand hymns of life.
Share one-thousand breaths of wonder.
Rejoice!

Leap one-thousand steps toward beauty.
Cry one-thousand hymns of joy.
Feel one-thousand breaths of mystery.
Rejoice! Rejoice!

Postscript: Here’s a prayer called “Let Joy” and another called “For Joy.” This link is to a list of all of my Sukkot prayers.

To Seek Your Glory

Posted on: September 7th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer asks for G-d’s help seeking G-d. A paradox? Seeking G-d takes patience, endurance and discipline. The patience to wait for a flower to bloom. The endurance to stay present in each moment. The discipline to see if the bush burns but is not consumed. This is from a series prayers including “To Hear Your Voice,” “To Seek Your Love” and “To Know Your Word.” This prayer poem appears in my book This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

To Seek Your Glory
Divine author of creation,
Well of mystery,
Majestic hand of light and truth,
Grant me the patience and wisdom
To seek Your wonders,
The glory of Your sacred and holy Name.
Open my eyes to radiance and splendor,
The steady flow of holiness and love,
To awe, abundance, beauty, comfort and rest.
Set us on the path of devotion and dedication,
A wondrous journey of discovery.
Give us energy, endurance and enthusiasm,
Zest and zeal,
To live our lives in wonder,
Seeking Your holy presence.

G-d of All being,
Font of wisdom and joy,
Your Glory endures.

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Postscript: I use this prayer for the 11th day of the Omer. Here are links to the related prayers, “To Hear Your Voice,” “To Seek Your Love” and “To Know Your Word.”

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: Alden Solovy

Upon Recovery From Surgery

Posted on: September 3rd, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is for an individual recovering from surgery. It gives thanks for healing and, as an act of immediate gratitude, asks for blessings on caregivers, healing for others and blessings on those whose recovery is still questionable. This prayer will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. For those about to undergo surgery, please read “For Surgery.” Here is a post-surgery prayer for those who have “Complications after Surgery.”

Upon Recovery From Surgery
G-d of renewal and strength,
Thank you for the gifts of vitality, comfort and recovery
After the many traumas of surgery.

Grant me continued health and healing
As my body and spirit use Divine energy,
Endowed by Your loving hand,
To find wholeness.

Bless my surgeon with skill and my caregivers with love,
So that others may know the awesome wonder
Of new spirit,
New joy,
And renewed life.

Bless those whose recovery is not yet complete,
Whose future remains uncertain.
Erase their worries,
Console their children,
Strengthen their parents,
Fortify their partners
And bring peace to their families and friends.

May the One who heals with holiness and love,
Grant recovery to all in need.

Postscript: Here are more prayers for healing: “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery” and “For Healing the Spirit.”

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. If you like or use this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Integra Life Sciences

Life as a Banquet

Posted on: August 29th, 2010 by tobendlight

The banquet of your life is full. Rejoice in the blessings. Share the bounty. This is one of four prayers that begin with a reflection on human limits as the gateway to rejoicing in Divine gifts. And sharing them. Here’s a link to more prayers appropriate for Thanksgiving.

Life as a Banquet
G-d of sacred time,
Source of sacred space,
Creator of holiness,
Divine light of wonder and awe,
My vision is clouded,
My sight limited,
The horizon of this world binds my perceptions.
What I see and what I know are tied to my awareness.

Heavenly hand of wisdom,
Guardian of realms above and realms below,
You who give understanding and insight,
Grant me the grace to live my life as a banquet,
A river of abundance and blessing
That yields food and clothing and shelter,
That I accept with humility and thanksgiving.
Give me the strength and compassion
To share these gifts with those in need,
To become an instrument of Divine bounty.

You who provide gifts beyond measure,
Guide me with Your love,
Teach me with Your holiness,
Show me the path to charity and service,
So that I live a life of dignity and honor,
With reverence for Your creation.

Blessed are You, G-d of time and space,
Providing bounty to be shared.

Postscript: Please check out these related prayers: “Life as a Symphony,” “Life as a Ceremony” and “Life as a Garden.”

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: Taste With the Eyes

Come Walk

Posted on: August 26th, 2010 by tobendlight

The spiritual journey requires humility to see with new eyes and willingness to listen with a new heart for the beautifully possible impossibilities that are all around us. I use this in week five of counting the Omer.

Come Walk
I know a man who lives in a rainbow.
I’ve heard the poet who lives on the moon.
I’ve heard the secret that sings all around you.
I know a man who can teach you the tune.

Hear the music among the lilies
And whispers in the blades of grass.
Hear the thunder beneath the ocean.
Feel the love that will always last.

Come walk the sacred sunshine.
Come walk the Milky Way.
Walk gently through the heavens.
Walk gently through each day.

Put your head upon my shoulder
And your hand upon my chest.
Put your hope above your sorrow.
Give yourself a time to rest.

I know a man who sings from the mountains,
And another who sings from the seas.
I’ve heard the man who sings from his glory,
And the man who sings on his knees.

Come walk between the layers of clouds.
Come walk the spirals of stars.
Walk gently through joy and sorrow.
Walk gently, walk holy, walk far.

Postscript: Here are more prayer/poems from the spiritual traveler: “All is Well,” “River,” “Bird is Bird” and “About the Rainbow.” Thank you to Ira Scott Levin, Julia Bordenaro Levin, and Tracy Friend. Their music helped me find this voice. Thanks also to Ros Roucher for her comments on earlier drafts.

Photo Credit: Salt Lake Tribune

The Path of Righteousness

Posted on: August 19th, 2010 by tobendlight

On Yom Kippur the questions of who we are and what we might become collide, as do the questions of what we’ve done with our lives and how much time we have left. The path of righteousness is paved with questions. This prayer echoes the Un’tanneh Tokef, an amazing and powerful prayer recited on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. To listen while you read, click the triangle in the bar below. The text follows. This appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

The Path of Righteousness
G-d of what was and what will be,
Of what might have been and might still be.
G-d of past and future,
Of memories and beginnings.
G-d of the finite and the infinite,
Of moments and possibilities.
What is my life?
And what of my death?
What of my choices?
And what of my future?
What of this distance?
And what of the endless sky?
What of the darkness?
And what of the light?

G-d of the seen and unseen,
Of the known and unknowable.
Teach me patience and understanding
As the mysteries of my life unfold.
Teach me to live gently, love generously,
And to walk with strength and confidence.
Teach me to give and to receive,
Sharing Your blessings in joy and sorrow.
Teach me to see others through Your eyes,
As children of G-d.
And teach me to see myself and my life as You do,
With love.

Blessed are You, Adonai,
Source of life,
Guardian and Shelter,
You set Your people on the path of righteousness,
Holiness and charity,
Kindness and grace,
To return to You in service.
Blessed is Your Holy Name.

Postscript: Here’s a link to prayers and stories for the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days, listed by topic.

Photo Source: Photo by Martin Kozák, Wikimedia Commons

Cantor Cohen (A Yom Kippur Story)

Posted on: August 12th, 2010 by tobendlight

From the time of the Temple until today, our spiritual leaders have trembled at the enormity of task of praying for forgiveness on behalf of the entire Jewish people. In all corners of the globe, whereever Jews assemble to pray during these Days of Awe, Hineni — the leader’s prayer for humility — is in the heart of our leaders. The melody is haunting and beautiful. To listen to the story, click on the triangle in the slider bar below. The text follows.

Cantor Cohen
The morning before Kol Nidre, Cantor Cohen is dressed by sunrise, covered by his talit, wrapped in hope and fear. The gates of heaven, still shut. The gates of repentance, still locked. The gates of forgiveness, unmoved. What will it take, O God, for my voice to reach You? What will it take, Our Maker, for our pleas to move You? Should we shake heaven with a mighty song? Or should we cry in whispers, hoping to be heard? The prayer, ancient. The longing, present. And Cantor Cohen prays to pray with a perfect heart.

Postscript: Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim, including brief descriptions and links to each. Use it list to look for prayers topically. To narrow your search, here are lists divided by holiday and topic: Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.