Tag Archive for "prayer of love"

Posts Tagged ‘prayer of love’

Give Love Wings

Posted on: February 14th, 2018 by Alden

A new prayer about the holiness of love.

Give Love Wings
Give your love wings
To soar with the music and the prayers
That dance between us,
That sing around us,
That rise shimmering
To the heavens
In radiance and glory.

Give your heart freedom
To float breathless
In the vastness of the universe,
To become one with the Soul of all Being,
To enter the majesty of light
Pulsing from the ancient yearnings of our hearts.

Give your love wings, to soar.
And when you reach G-d’s holy place,
Opens your hands in blessing.

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Postscript: My other prayers about love include: Groucy: A Love Prayer, For New Love and Quick Blessing for a Past 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: Stormhoek.com

My Life in Yours

Posted on: October 23rd, 2017 by Alden

About four years ago I wrote a love song. As I strolled alone along Jerusalem’s old railway walking path, these words simply appeared. Strange. I wasn’t dating anyone, so why would a love song simply appear? Here are two versions of “My Life in Yours,” the first is a song of yearning for love; the second, which follows, is a wedding prayer recited by one partner to the other or said together in unison. The differences in the two are small, but key.

My Life in Yours – A Love Song
When my heart whispers for you,
When my breath calls your name,
When my eyes sparkle with your grace,
I will plant my life in yours.

When my hands yearn for your healing,
When my ears tune to your voice,
When my pulse beats with your footsteps,
I will plant my life in yours.

The sky, the sea, the horizon,
The moments, the days and the years.
The light, the hope, the glory,
The hours, the seasons, the tears.

When your heart whispers for me,
When your breath calls my name,
When your pulse beats with my footsteps,
I will plant my life in yours…
I will plant this life in yours.

My Life in Yours – A Wedding Prayer
My heart whispers for you,
And my breath calls your name,
As my eyes sparkle with your grace,
I plant my life in yours.

My hands yearn for your healing,
My ears tune to your voice,
As my pulse beats with your footsteps,
I plant my life in yours.

The sky, the sea, the horizon,
The moments, the days and the years.
The light, the hope, the glory,
The hours, the seasons, the tears.

Now your heart whispers for me,
And your breath calls my name,
As your pulse beats with my footsteps,
I plant my life in yours.
I plant this life in yours.

Postscript: I recorded myself singing the tune to this piece to share here, but I’m too shy — yes, I said shy — to post it. Here are links to my prayers about love: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “For New Love,” “To Seek Your Love,” “A Heart of Love” and “A Moment of Love.” Several of these prayers appear in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Bind Our Hearts

Posted on: January 8th, 2017 by Alden

Mazal Tov to my daughter Nikki Braziel-Solovy and her man Prometheus Kevin Trotsky on their engagement. This wedding day prayer alludes to the sheva brachot – the set of seven prayers said under the chuppah, the wedding canopy. Each of the stanzas contains seven lines. The middle stanza is an interpretation of the sheva brachot, borrowing hints and ideas from each of the seven prayers. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

Bind Our Hearts
Hope and love,
Love and promise,
Promise and commitment,
Commitment and action,
A sacred pairing,
A holy union,
A celebration of life.

Let this cup of sweetness overflow
Into G-d’s glorious handiwork,
As we delight in creation,
Seeing the divine in each other,
Sharing this abundance with the generations
As loving companions and dedicated friends,
Rejoicing together, now and forever.

Bind our hearts with awe,
Bind our hearts with wonder,
Grant us wisdom and understanding,
Patience and forgiveness,
Days of radiance and light,
Nights of comfort and peace,
Lives of blessing, together.

Postscript: See also “A Moment of Love,” “For an Open Heart” and “Blessing for a Spouse/Partner.”

Photo Source: Family Snaps on iCloud

Quick Blessing for a Past Love

Posted on: December 30th, 2015 by Alden

In my single life, before and after my marriage to Ami z”l, I’ve been blessed with the company of women who’ve loved deeply, women who have been sources of strength and inspiration. Sometimes I wonder how they’re doing, if they’re happy and contented, and I send a brief blessing out into the world. This blessing for a past love appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Quick Blessing for a Past Love
Light from my past,
You were once the joy of my present
And the hope of our future.
I remember you with affection
And pray that you have found
Joy and contentment,
Prosperity and peace.
Your loving heart and your gentle hand
Remain a source of quiet warmth
Even as the rhythm of our lives
Move in separate directions.
May you dwell in the tent of health and happiness
Secure in a life of friendship and love
Rejoicing in a life of awe and wonder.

Postscript: There are eight prayers of love and friendship in my book Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing which can be ordered here. This is one of 16 “Quick Prayers.” Click here for the full list.

Tweetable! Click here to tweet this: Pray for someone who you once loved: “Quick Prayer for a Past Love” http://bit.ly/1Vp3x6u New from @ToBendLight

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Photo Source: QuotesGram

Being a Blessing

Posted on: November 1st, 2015 by Alden

What does it mean to be a blessing in the lives of the people around you? It means nothing less than listening – listening with your ears, your eyes, your heart and your soul – and responding to others with love and compassion. This is a meditation on becoming a blessing in the lives of others. This prayer will appear in my forthcoming book, This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Being a Blessing
If you ask for rest, I will sit with you.
If you ask for comfort, I will stay with you.

If you ask for hope, I will yearn with you.
If you ask for love, I will sing with you.

If you ask for stillness, I will breathe with you.
If you ask for peace, I will dream with you.

If you ask for joy, I will laugh with you.
If you ask for healing, I will pray with you.

If you ask for warmth, I will become a blanket.
If you ask for refuge, I will become a shelter.

If you ask for help, I will become a blessing.

Postscript: Other prayers about blessing and being blessed include: “Be the Blessing,” “These Blessings,” “Receiving Blessings” and “A Moment of Blessing.”

Photo Source: Free Methodist Church in Canada

Finding My Beshert

Posted on: October 5th, 2014 by Alden

Here’s a new prayer for finding a life partner, a “beshert.” More people have asked me to write on this topic than all others combined. It’s been on my list and unaddressed for years. I can’t explain why it’s taken so long, especially since I’ve written prayers for recognizing romantic love, “For New Love,” and about maintaining that love, “For an Open Heart.” Perhaps it’s because I struggle with the idea of a divinely-ordained life-partner. Note: language choices in this piece are identified by a slash “/” and optional inserts with [brackets]. To who are looking for a beshert, blessings on your journey.

Finding My Beshert
G-d of joy and celebration,
Of generations and futures,
Bless me as I begin/continue
My search for a life partner,
A man/woman for me to love and to hold dear,
A man/woman to love me and hold me dear.
For this is Your will and Your way,
That couples should bond to serve each other in joy
And to serve You through the fullness of family,
In mourning and in rejoicing,
Marking the days with thanksgiving and grace.

[My search has taken longer than I’d imagined.
Grant me the courage to continue
And the faith that my wait will be rewarded.]

G-d of our fathers and mothers,
Lead me wisely to a man/woman
Of character and strength,
Wisdom and understanding,
Torah and mitzvot,
A man woman of ____________ [add your own hopes and dreams].
Lead him/her swiftly to me,
A gift beyond measure.
Open our hearts to each other
And help us to keep our souls
Pure in service to each other and our family/families
All the days of our lives.

Blessed are You,
Source of blessing and love.

.בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה, מְקוֹר הַבְּרָכָה וְהָאַהֲבָה

Baruch atah, m’kor hab’rachah v’ha’ahavah.

Postscript: “For New Love” and for “For an Open Heart” appear in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Photo Source: The Jewish Federation and The Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay

Vayetze 5773: A Moment of Love

Posted on: November 25th, 2012 by tobendlight

“…Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she tended them. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.” – Genesis 29:9-11

After he sees Rachel, Jacob opens the well for her flock, a feat of great strength, and he opens his heart fully: a lesson in love from the third generation of our fathers and mothers.

A Moment of Love
Love is a well of strength,
A river of hope,
A fountain of holiness,
A moment for tears.

Love is in our arms,
In our hearts,
In our voices,
And in our eyes.

G-d of our mothers,
Let me be like she
Who tends the flocks,
Bringing them safely
To the waters.

G-d of our fathers,
Let me be like he
Who opens the source
Of blessing
To our lives together.

Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d,
Creator of life and love.

Postscript: My other prayers about love include: “Let Love,” “The Cut That Heals,” “For New Love,” “To Seek Your Love” and “A Heart of Love.”

Photo Credit: Chabad Jewish Center of Massachusetts.

Posts Tagged ‘prayer of love’

Give Love Wings

My Life in Yours

Bind Our Hearts

Quick Blessing for a Past Love

Being a Blessing

Finding My Beshert

Vayetze 5773: A Moment of Love

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