Tag Archive for "spirit" | To Bend Light

Posts Tagged ‘spirit’

Being Present

Posted on: May 30th, 2012 by tobendlight

Here’s a prayer about living fully, being present in the moment. This piece appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Being Present
G-d, help me live this day
In a way that draws Your favor,
That summons
Your gifts and Your blessings,
That attracts holiness and light.

Give me courage and strength,
Hope and understanding.

Help me to be present in my life.
Help me be present in my day.
Help me be present for others.
Help me be present for myself.

Let me live awake and aware,
Vital and energetic,
Casting off the chains of doubt and fear.

G-d of hidden worlds,
G-d of secret realms,
G-d of trial and triumph,
You have given me moments and choices,
Hours and opportunities,
Days to build
And days to renew.
Let me live this day with wisdom,
Awake to the moments of healing,
Dedicating my hands and my heart
To the work of creation.

And Your gifts will appear quietly,
Gently,
Sweet like morning dew
To refresh my heart.

Postscript: This prayer echoes the themes of my three-part meditation about the rhythm and flow of life. These meditations are written to be recited in order: “Leaving,” “Arriving” and “Now.”

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: Vionnaswatching

Shoah Memorial Prayer

Posted on: April 19th, 2012 by tobendlight

זכר צדיקים לברכה
A memorial prayer for those who perished in the Holocaust. This is the centerpiece of a six-prayer Yom HaShoah liturgy. This prayer appears in my book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

Shoah Memorial Prayer
Creator of all,
Source and shelter,
Grant a perfect rest under your tabernacle of peace
To those who perished in the Holocaust,
Our fathers and mothers,
Our sisters and brothers,
Our rabbis and teachers,
Our neighbors and children,
The named and the unnamed,
Whose lives were cut off by
Brutal, vicious, cunning and calculated violence.
May they find peace in the world to come.
Remember the survivors who have since passed away,
And the virtues of our people who’ve died at the hand of malice
In every generation.
We remember the works of their hands
And the messages of their hearts.
Bless the defenders of Israel with safety and strength,
And the righteous of all nations who provide
Protection, shelter and comfort to the Jewish people.
Let their deeds be a source of favor in heaven
And healing on earth.
Put an end to anger, hatred and fear
And lead us to a time when no one will suffer at the hand of another,
Speedily, in our days.
May the memories of all who faced these horrors
Be sanctified with joy and love.
May their souls be bound up in the bond of life,
A living blessing in our midst.

Postscript: This prayer is adapted from “At the Hand of Anti-Semitism: A Yizkor Prayer.” Thanks to my friend Brenda Epstein for the suggestion. Here are two prayers appropriate for use commemorating Kristallnacht, Yom HaShoah and Tisha b’Av: “After the Horror” and “Tears of Crystal, Tears of Broken Glass.” Click here for a six-prayer Yom HaShoah liturgy.

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: Highland Park Conservative Temple

A Heart of Love

Posted on: December 11th, 2011 by tobendlight

What’s the response to spiritual heartbreak, to the deep longing that remains when G-d seems distant? This prayer/poem combines the vision of the spiritual traveler with a voice of warning. The result: a stark reminder about the risks of total surrender to G-d’s love. It ends on a brief note of hope, acknowledging that even in despair G-d is available to all of us. This is the third in this series, including “A Heart of Vision” and “A Heart that Hears.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

A Heart of Love
I cannot hold Your love in my arms.
I cannot find Your presence with my hands.
Only my heart can know Your radiance and splendor,
Your compassion and forgiveness,
Your laughter and Your light.

Listen dear sisters,
Dear brothers.
Do not be quick to pray
To embrace life from the center of your being,
To connect from the inside out.
When you hold love in the cradle of your heart
You will drink at the oasis of joy.
But when sorrow dries up your aching chest,
You will be parched and faint
Before the fountain of G-d.

Postscript: The following prayers tackle the same theme with a call to action and a softer edge: “Let Love,” “Let Joy,” “Let Truth,” and “Let Holiness.” And here’s a prayer called “For Healing the Spirit.” Please consider purchasing my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

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

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Your Light

Posted on: November 4th, 2011 by tobendlight

This prayer/poem resonates with the love, hope and yearning of the one who is summoned to travel, to leave, to roam. It’s intentionally ambiguous on several levels, like the journey itself. To listen, click on the triangle in the bar below (website only). The text follows.

Your Light
Your light
Shines to greet me.
Generous and warm.
Precious and true.
When I leave
Your light follows,
A gentle glow of
Heart and home.

This journey of awe and mystery,
Radiance and wonder,
Summons me across land and sea,
To listen, to look, to feel, to be.
G-d’s wisdom and grace carry me
Across earth and sky
To song and splendor.

Shine brighter, my loves!
So that when my journey ends
I will remember
The way home.

Postscript: See also “To Find Home,” “The Way Home” and “On the Trail.”

If you like this prayer, post a link to your Facebook page, to your blog or as part of a tweet. And don’t forget to click “like” on this page. Thanks.

For reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” in the right hand column.

I am a King: A Meditation for Men

Posted on: October 24th, 2011 by tobendlight

In every man there is a king, a beautiful, wise and powerful man who sees, heals and blesses. Sadly, sometimes we become tyrants, and sometimes we abdicate our duties. This is a meditation to remind myself and other men that all of us have a deep well of spiritual gold. We are men of honor and integrity. We are kings in service to our families, our loved ones, ourselves and the world. Kings in service to the Holy One, G-d of All Being. To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

I am a King: A Meditation for Men
I am a king.
Not the king.
A king.
Like all men,
Born with a seed of majesty,
A gift of the Sovereign of Heaven.
This gift is mine to nurture,
To love,
To hold sacred in service to G-d.

Rock of Truth,
Some men fear this gift,
Hate it, reject it,
Abdicating Your call to heal and create.
Some men grab this gift with zeal,
Tyrants abusing their power,
Destroying and devouring
Land and people.

Rock of Life,
Make me a king with a heart of gold,
Holding my life and the world
As precious gifts,
To honor and to cherish,
To build and to sustain.

Rock of Love,
Bless me so that I bless.
See me so that I see.
Hear me so that I hear.
Then, G-d of Old,
I will be Your servant on earth
All the days of my life.

Postscript: Check out these prayers for men: “My Work Remains,” “For the Lost” and “My Heart Knows What It Needs,” as well as a list of other prayers for and about men.

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: Honey Badger Heart

Pray and…: Yoga Meditation III

Posted on: October 16th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a meditation on being, which is a lovely way to begin – or to end! – a day’s yoga practice. It can also be used to begin a meditation session. It has the same rhythm and feel as “Breath: Yoga Meditation I” and “Strong: Yoga Meditation II.” To listen along, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

Pray and…: Yoga Meditation III
Pray and feel.
Pray and love.
Pray and heal.
Pray and be.

Breath and feel.
Breath and love.
Breath and heal.
Breath and be.

Hope and feel.
Hope and love.
Hope and heal.
Hope and be.

G-d and feel.
G-d and love.
G-d and heal.
G-d and be.

Postscript: Here are two more pieces with the same rhythm and feel: “River” and “Ethics.” If you like this meditation, you may also like “Come Walk,” “Bird is Bird” and “Leaving.”

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

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Doubt, Fear, Anger, Shame

Posted on: October 4th, 2011 by tobendlight

Can doubt, fear, anger or shame be blessings? Here are links to four prayers about troublesome emotions. They speak to the need to reclaim the gifts hidden in these feelings: the challenge to grow and change, the opportunity to harness them for healing. As we move toward repentance, prayer and righteousness on Yom Kippur, may we find ways to redeem our feelings, our experiences and our lives as blessings. Here are links to four prayers about facing these emotions:

Here’s a prayer about the witnessing the pain of others, called: “Witnessing: A Meditation.”

Click here for a prayers for the Yamim Noraim, listed by topics. Here’s a focused list of prayers for Elul, one of prayers for Rosh Hashana, another for Yom Kippur prayers and one more for Sukkot. And here’s a link to yizkor and memorial prayers.

I Saw G-d

Posted on: September 27th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is the third piece – written in the voice of the spiritual traveler – that loosely follows a meter and a rhyming pattern, which is not my typical style. The others are “Come Walk” and “Each Day.” The three pieces fit together loosely as a series, although this piece and “Come Walk” are more closely connected.

I Saw G-d
I saw G-d in the color of the rainbow.
I saw G-d in the color of the sky.
I saw G-d in my mirror.
I saw G-d in the color of your eyes.

I heard G-d in your laughter.
I heard G-d in your breathless cry.
I heard G-d in my heartbeat.
I heard G-d in your secret sigh.

I felt G-d in the quiet morning.
I felt G-d in the lonely night.
I felt G-d in your gentle breathing.
I felt G-d in your holy light.

I know G-d as Source and Shelter.
I know G-d as the Rock of Love.
I know G-d as Grace and Wisdom.
I know G-d as the Rock of Life.

Postscript: Check out “Come Walk” and “Each Day.” Other songs, prayers and poems of the spiritual traveler include: “Leaving,” “Remember,” “About the Rainbow,” “Bird is Bird” and “Soarbird.”

If you like this prayer, post a link to your Facebook page, to your blog or as part of a tweet. And don’t forget to click “like” on this page. Thanks. For reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” in the right hand column.

Photo courtesy of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

I Am Breathing

Posted on: September 24th, 2011 by tobendlight

This is a meditation on the simple joys of breathing, hearing and seeing, but it’s really about the hope to embody in my own life the simple, gentle act of being. Here’s the piece, along with a photo I took of a sunrise over Lake Michigan one summer morning. To listen along as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below.

I Am Breathing
I am.
Breathing.
I am breathing.
A prayer runs through it.
A prayer of hope.
A prayer of love.
A prayer of wholeness and heart.

I am.
Hearing.
I am hearing.
A song runs through it.
A song of joy.
A song of wonder.
A song of thanks and praise.

I am.
Seeing.
I am seeing.
A light runs through it.
A light of hope.
A light of love.
A light of wisdom and grace.

I am.
Being.
I am being.
My life runs through it.
A life of mystery.
A life of awe and splendor.
A life exalting G-d’s Holy Name.

Postscript: Other songs and prayers of the spiritual traveler include: “Come Walk,” “Leaving,” “Remember,” “Bird is Bird” and “Soarbird.”

Photo Source: Alden Solovy

Soarbird

Posted on: September 17th, 2011 by tobendlight

A flight of fancy. A song of the spiritual traveler. A few words from the one who prays in song, in rhythm, in metaphor. It’s a companion piece to the prayer/poem “Bird is Bird,” which begins this way: “Bird is bird. Sky is sky…” Both are flights toward quiet, toward calm, toward peace.

Soarbird
Soarbird, sing.
Heart music.
Drum beat. Chest beat.
Magic rhythm.
Secret song.
Magic flight.

Soarbird, wing.
Sky music.
Pulse beat. Heart beat.
Magic thunder.
Wind song.
Magic whisper.

Soarbird, rest.
Night music.
Silent. Still.
Magic being.
Love song.
Magic becoming.

Soarbird, sing.
Sun music.
Light. Air.
Magic motion.
Freedom song.
Magic sight.

Postscript: See also: “Bird Song at Midnight,” “First Bird” and, of course, “Bird is Bird.”

Photo by Alden Solovy

Posts Tagged ‘spirit’

Being Present

Shoah Memorial Prayer

A Heart of Love

Your Light

I am a King: A Meditation for Men

Pray and…: Yoga Meditation III

Doubt, Fear, Anger, Shame

I Saw G-d

I Am Breathing

Soarbird

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