Posts Tagged ‘healing and love’

 

The Details of Beauty

Posted on: July 11th, 2014 by Alden

 

IMG_5616A gift for Shabbat. A reminder. A reminder for those in sorrow and grief, those who are tired, numb and especially to those who’ve run to bomb shelters all week. Shabbat Shalom.

The Details of Beauty
Remember
The details of beauty
With your eyes.
The autumn leaf,
A baby’s cry,
Small wonders to remind you
Of joy and wonder.

Remember
The details of love
With your breath.
The soft smile
And gentle hand,
Small wonders to remind you
Of awe and majesty.

Remember
The details of faith
With your pulse,
The quiet prayer,
The hymn of glory,
Small wonders to remind you
Of devotion and service.

G-d of Old,
The details of beauty
Surround us.
Love and faith are
Our inheritance.
Teach us to see clearly in each day
The small wonders
You set before us.
To take them in,
To feel their power
And to rejoice.

© 2014 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here are more prayers with a similar theme: “This MomentBeing Present,” “Leaving” and “Small Moments.” If you haven’t yet, please take a look at my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing, and consider ordering a copy, where some of these prayers appear.

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.

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

 

 

Mother’s Meditation

Posted on: January 27th, 2013 by tobendlight

MotherThis prayer is to be said by mothers with children who have begun their independent lives. It’s the companion piece to “Father’s Meditation.” The two prayers follow the same overall structure and rhythm.

This prayer, along with “Father’s Meditation,” will appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Mother’s Meditation
Gracious and Compassionate One,
Father of the Universe,
Mother of Life,
Fountain and Well,
Hear this prayer:

My children are Yours,
To guide and protect with Your open hand,
To nurture and care with Your wisdom,
To hold and heal with Your loving ways.
Grant them vitality and fortitude
As they build lives of their own.
Fill their days with friendship and hope,
Joy and kindness,
Thanksgiving and peace.
Shield them from pain and strife.
Grant them years of prosperity and serenity,
Gratitude and faith,
Awe and wonder.
May they enjoy the fruits of Your creation
In service to Torah and our People Israel.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
G-d of our ancestors,
G-d of generations.

© 2013 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here’s a parent’s prayer for when for when “My Child Leaves Home.” Click here for more prayers about family.

If you use this prayer, please click “like” on this page and subscribe. Please take a moment to post a link to your Facebook page, your blog or mention it in a tweet. Thanks. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!

Photo Credit: Body+Soul

Father’s Meditation, Revised

Posted on: January 20th, 2013 by tobendlight

father-and-sonThis prayer is to be said by fathers with children who have begun their independent lives. It’s a revision to a prayer of the same name. Today I wrote the companion piece, called “Mother’s Meditation.” The two prayers follow the same overall structure and rhythm. As I wrote the new meditation, it seemed clear that some of the new phraseology in “Mother’s Meditation” belonged in this prayer and that some of the phraseology in the original version of this piece belonged in the other prayer. Both prayers appear in Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Father’s Meditation
Gracious and Compassionate One,
Mother of the Universe,
Father of Life,
Source and Shelter,
Hear this prayer:

My children are Yours,
To guide and protect with Your strong hand,
To nurture and care with Your outstretched arm,
To hold and heal with Your righteous ways.
Grant them vitality and fortitude
As they build lives of their own.
Fill their days with meaning and purpose,
Joy and adventure,
Thanksgiving and peace.
Ease their burdens and relieve their struggles.
Grant them years of prosperity and serenity,
Wisdom and courage,
Gratitude and wonder.
May they enjoy the fruits of Your creation
In service to Torah and our People Israel.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
G-d of our ancestors,
G-d of generations.

© 2013 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com.  All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here’s a parent’s prayer for when for when “My Child Leaves Home.” Click here for more prayers about family.

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: fcaministers.com

Family Healing

Posted on: November 8th, 2012 by tobendlight

This is a prayer for healing family wounds. Choices to tailor the prayer to particular situations are in [brackets]. Use this or other language to describe your family circumstances. My prayer “For Family” includes a similar message, more softly stated. This prayer appear in my forthcoming book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Family Healing
G-d of Old,
Our family has been fractured,
Torn apart by _________________ [anger, violence, death, alcoholism, suicide, disease, mental illness, neglect, abuse, abandonment, finances],
Old wounds that have steeped into our bones and our blood,
Our thoughts and our words.
Release me from my anger and my guilt,
So I may see my kin with new eyes –
Their losses and fears,
Their pain and shame –
And therefore find a source of
Forgiveness and renewed love.

Well of Blessings,
Lead us to new vision and new wisdom,
The place where love rests safely in our hearts
And peace waits quietly in our hands.

G-d of Generations,
Grant healing to my family, speedily,
So that we may rejoice together in Your gifts,
With joy and thanksgiving.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here are prayers of family praise: “For the Patriarch,” “For the Matriarch,” “For Our Sisters,” “For Our Brothers” and “For the Family Historian.”

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.

This Moment

Posted on: June 3rd, 2012 by tobendlight

IMG_1925Every 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?

© 2012 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

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)

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