Tag Archive for "renewal" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘renewal’

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.

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: Photo by Martin Kozák, Wikimedia Commons

For Wonder and Awe

Posted on: August 1st, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer was not explicitly written either for Counting the Omer or for Yom Kippur. It fits both. The suggestion here, love ourselves enough to live disciplined lives, ties to day 8 of the omer, “lovingkindness in discipline.” The Yom Kippur connection may be more obvious. The voice of classic piyyutim for repentance echo in the second stanza. This prayer poem appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings © 2019 CCAR Press.

For Wonder and Awe
My body is Yours, oh my G-d,
My limbs Your tools, my heart Your dwelling.
Open my heart to receive Your gifts,
Wonder and awe,
Grace and majesty,
Full yet humble,
A symphony of song and delight.

As for me,
I have chased dust in vain pursuit,
Pursued shadows in selfish desire,
Grasped for wind instead of seeking You,
My Rock,
My Holy Shelter.

My body is Yours, O my G-d,
My life abundant,
My moments bursting with love.

Give me new wisdom,
To live by Your word,
To honor Your Holy Name,
So that Your gifts to me
Return to You as blessings.

Postscript: My other prayers of wonder include: “About the Rainbow,” “About the Heavens,” “Come Walk” and “Rejoice!” Click here for the full list of prayers for the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days, including brief descriptions and links to each.

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: Wired

For Grace

Posted on: July 28th, 2010 by tobendlight

This is meditation about living a life of grace, humility and love. How? By offering grace to others. This prayer, which is appropriate at any time of the year, has particular relevance during the first week of Counting of the Omer and during the Hebrew month of Elul. This prayer appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

For Grace
All I am,
All I have,
All I’ll become
Are present in this moment:
Warmth and breath,
Love and compassion,
Silence and celebration.
Everything, here.
All gifts, present.

What then, G-d of All Being,
What then of my choices?
What will I make of the space
Between this breath and the next?
Will I bring laughter and light,
Hope and faith,
Wonder and strength?
Will I stand in humble service
For all of my brothers and sisters?

Maker of heaven and earth,
Grant us the wisdom to choose lives of grace,
Lives of vision and understanding,
Seeing each moment as a choice
To bless our companions
With strength and wisdom,
With honor and respect.

Blessed are the gentle moments of grace.

Photo Credit: Alden Solovy

To Do Your Will

Posted on: July 26th, 2010 by tobendlight

Since G-d already has given us Abraham and Sarah, Moshe and Miriam, what can I bring to our people in Divine service? Simply this: to ask for the guidance to do G-d’s will in humility and love. This prayer has particular relevance during the month of Elul, as well as week four of the Counting the Omer. See also “For Humility.” This prayer poem appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

To Do Your Will
G-d who made Abraham and Sarah,
Moses and Miriam,
G-d who made scholars and leaders,
The wise and the heroic,
What is my place and my purpose?
What is Your will for this man / woman who stands ready,
In awe of Your radiance and light?

G-d whose voice echoes though time,
Whose blessings flow through our lives,
What is my role and my requirement?
How shall I serve Your glorious and holy name?

This is my longing and my desire:
To do Your will in humility and love.
To hear and to teach.
To see and to bless,
To hold and to honor.
To witness and to wonder.

G-d of generations,
Source of holiness and purpose,
Reveal the mystery of my life,
Open the gates of my heart,
And fill the well of my being
With vigor and delight.
Then my life will stand in tribute to divine justice and mercy,
To the wonder of creation,
To the honor and dedication of our people.

Blessed is the One, Source of truth,
Who reveals meaning and purpose in our daily lives.

Postscript: I have selected this prayer for week four of Counting the Omer, as well as one of my prayers during Elul.

Photo Credit: USDA NRSA Photo Gallery

Rhythms

Posted on: July 23rd, 2010 by tobendlight

This meditation is about contrasting rhythms of life, time moving in a straight line and holiness moving in circles. Although it can be said at any time of the year, it has particular relevance during the Hebrew month of Elul and on Rosh Hashana. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below.

Rhythms
Gracious and compassionate One,
G-d of time and seasons,
You’ve made a world of mystery and wonder.
A world of moments and millennia,
Clarity and confusion,
Illness and health,
Life and death.
Time moves relentlessly forward,
Relentlessly into the unknown,
Relentlessly from the seen into the yet-to-be.
In Your wisdom, G-d of All Being,
Time also moves in cycles and seasons,
Carrying us from the holy to the mundane back to the holy,
A loving pattern of power and grace, comfort and hope.

Protector and Redeemer of Israel,
Grant me wisdom as my life moves forward through the flow of time.
Grant me strength as it turns through the circles of holiness.

Blessed are You, Holy One, who creates and sustains
The rhythms of our lives.

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

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: WikiArt

The Season of Healing

Posted on: July 21st, 2010 by tobendlight

The Days of Awe are a time for introspection and self-assessment in anticipation of repentance, forgiveness, thanksgiving and rejoicing. This rhythm binds who we are now to who we will become. It frees us from everything that holds us back. It is a season of healing. This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press.

The Season of Healing
This is the season of healing:
Of healing our hearts and minds,
Of healing the moments we share with each other
And the moments we share with ourselves.

This is the season of memory:
Of remembering our parents and grandparents,
The love of generations,
The holiness of our ancestors.

This is the season of stillness,
The season of silence and quiet:
Of deep breaths,
Of open eyes,
Of compassion and consolation.

This is the season of healing:
The season of grief turning to wonder,
Of loss turning toward hope,
The season that binds this year to the next,
The season that frees this year from the next,
The season that heralds the redemption of spirit
And our return to God’s Holy Word.

Postscript: This piece appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day from CCAR Press. Here’s a link to other prayers for the Yamim Noraim, the High Holy Days.

Photo Source: TzfatKabbalah.org

For Surgery

Posted on: July 8th, 2010 by tobendlight

This prayer is to be recited by an individual about to undergo surgery. It asks for healing, as well as blessings upon medical professionals and family members. Here’s a link to another prayer to be said “Upon Recovery From Surgery.” To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Surgery
G-d of health and healing,
I surrender myself to the physician’s hand,
The surgeon’s knife,
The nurse’s care,
Placing my body in the cradle of others,
Just as I place my soul in Your loving arms.

Bless my surgeon with a steady hand,
Keen vision
And a passion for healing.

Bless my caregivers with wisdom and skill,
With compassion, focus and dedication.

Bless my family with ease and comfort,
Regardless of the result.
Give them energy and endurance, tranquility and peace.
Remind them to care for themselves and each other,
Even as their hearts and prayers turn to me.

Bless my body with strength,
My spirit with courage,
My thoughts with hope
And my life with renewed purpose.

Source of life,
Bless us with Your guidance,
Make us Your partner in healing
And grant a full and speedy recovery.

Postscript: Other prayers for healing include: “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For a Critically-Ill Mother,” “For a Critically-Ill Child,” “For a Critically Ill Father” and “For Healing the Spirit.”

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.

Life as a Symphony

Posted on: July 5th, 2010 by tobendlight

Compassion gains an element of nobility when developed as a spiritual practice. This prayer is about living a reverent and compassionate life. It’s from a set of prayers including “Life as a Garden,” “Life as a Banquet” and “Life as a Ceremony.” Each calls for the introspection to see life as a glorious gift. They appear in Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Life as a Symphony
G-d of ancient secrets,
Source of life,
Creator of beauty,
Divine light of sacred truth,
My strength has its limits,
My power its purpose,
The energy of life flowing from a secret well beyond my reach
And beyond my imagination.
What I find and what finds me are a mystery and a miracle.

Heavenly hand of radiance and hope,
Author of all being,
Grant me the wisdom and understanding to live my life as a symphony,
A river of majestic music that blesses and sustains life
With holiness and love,
That I repay with kindness and charity.
Give me the passion and the patience to hear the rhythms of Your glorious creation.

You who bring beauty and song,
Guide me with Your power,
Teach me with Your kindness,
Show me the reverence for Your secret truths,
So that I live a life of joy and celebration,
With gratitude for Your creation.

Blessed are You, G-d of salvation and splendor,
Creation sings Your praise.

Postscript: I use this prayer for the 21th day of counting the Omer: “Nobility in Compassion.”

Photo Credit: UNCW Randall Library

For the Gift of Art

Posted on: July 2nd, 2010 by tobendlight

From Impressionism to Dada, from sculpture to photography, from Michelangelo to Chagall to Hokusai, the visual arts are amazing. Here’s another prayer celebrating creativity. It follows the same structure as other in this series, which is explained in the introduction to “For the Gift of Song.” To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For the Gift of Art
G-d, we give thanks for the gift of art,
For pencil and paint,
For glass and fabric,
For metal and stone,
For the gift that sees wisdom and beauty hidden in Your works,
For the skill and love that creates and crafts
Releasing divine radiance for others to see.
Hear this prayer for those who fashion art to reveal the secret glories of Your creation.
Make their works Your vessel.
Let heaven pour its vision through them
So that they overflow with Your light
Drawing others to Your glory.
So that when we see their works,
Our souls turn back to You in appreciation.
Together, we offer our gratitude back to heaven,
And rejoice.

Postscript: Be sure to check out the other prayers in this series: “For the Gift of Song,” “For the Gift of Words,” “For the Gift of Dance,” “For the Gift of Music,” “For the Gift of Laughter,” “For the Gift of Torah Scholarship” and “For the Joy of Learning.”

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.

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

Posts Tagged ‘renewal’

The Path of Righteousness

For Wonder and Awe

For Grace

To Do Your Will

Rhythms

The Season of Healing

For Surgery

Life as a Symphony

For the Gift of Art

An Amazing Life

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