Tag Archive for "spiritual journies"

Posts Tagged ‘spiritual journies’

The Details of Beauty

Posted on: July 11th, 2014 by Alden

A 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.

Postscript: Here are more prayers with a similar theme: “This Moment “Being 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

Let Us Meet

Posted on: March 7th, 2013 by tobendlight

This is a prayer of invitation. “Let us meet,” Ancient One, in the place where “Your radiance shimmers across creation.” Where is that? Everywhere. I use this prayer for day 34 of counting the Omer, yesod b’hod. This piece appears in This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings from CCAR Press.

Let Us Meet
How can You hear me,
G-d of Old,
How can You hear my voice,
In the chorus of
Song and praise
Reaching toward heaven?

How can I hear You,
G-d of Old,
How can I hear Your Voice,
In the chorus of
Traffic and regret
Weighing on my heart?

Let us meet in the hills at daybreak.
Let us meet in my eyes at sunset.
Let us meet in my labor at noontide.
Let us meet in this yearning at twilight.

My life is a prayer.
Your whispers, a blessing.

Let us meet in sacred moments of holiness and love.
Let us meet in gentle moments of awe and wonder.
Your radiance shimmers across creation.
My words approach You, a song of delight.

Holy One,
Let us meet
In a heartbeat,
In a breath,
In a vision
Of Your holy mountain,
Where Your Word,
Where Your Righteousness,
Where Your Justice and Your Mercy
Blesses and sustains
Us all.

Postscript: See also a related meditation called “Invitations.” My other prayers about prayer include: “Prayers of My Heart,” “Whispered Prayer,” “Prayer for You, Prayer for Me.” “For Prayer,” “Prayer Released” and “To Pray.”

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: Roseedge.com

The Open Space

Posted on: March 3rd, 2013 by tobendlight

This is a meditation about opening the spiritual space for wholeness to enter. It is, of course, in the voice of the spiritual traveler, the one who hints at wisdom and loves the journey for its own sake. This prayer/poem will appear in my forthcoming book, Song of the Spiritual Traveler.

The Open Space

Wholeness is the open space,

The place between,

Where the rhythm of being

Enters, flows through,

In my vision and my courage.

Forgiveness is the open space,

Where yesterday meets tomorrow,

Where the tide waits to shift,

Where holiness blesses the mundane,

In my breath and my celebration.

Wisdom is the open space

Where the echo hears the wind,

Where the silence becomes G-d’s Voice,

Where all that I am meets all that I can be,

In my marrow and in my surrender.

Postscript: Here’s a link to one of my favorite prayer/poems in the voice of the spiritual traveler, “Come Walk.” Here’s a link to more related meditations.

Photo Credit: WWU Planetarium

All is Well

Posted on: July 10th, 2012 by tobendlight

This was inspired by the following quote from Fr. Anthony DeMello: “Spirituality means waking up… All mystics — Catholic, Christian, non-Christian — they’re all unanimous, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion, they’re all unanimous on one thing. That one thing is: All is well. All is well. Everything’s in a mess. And all is well. Strange paradox. But tragically most people never get to see that. They never get to see that all is well because they’re asleep…”

All is Well
In the hills and in the valleys,
In the wind and in the clouds,
In the rivers and in the oceans,
All is well.

In the rain and in the rapids,
In the storm and in the gale,
In the tempest and in the squall,
All is well.

Oh, to live in this music.
All is well.
Oh, to live in this song.
This loveliness. This beauty.
This knowing.
This dance.
The chill at dawn and
The breeze at dusk.
These endings. These beginnings.
All is well.

In my courage and in my fear,
In my honor and in my shame,
In my silence and in my thunder.
The hawk and the owl,
The egret and the crane.
The updraft and the horizon.
The downdraft and the breaking sea.
Soaring, soaring.
All is well.

Postscript: Anthony “Tony” de Mello (Sept. 4, 1931 – June 2, 1987) was a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist who became widely known for his books on spirituality. If you like this piece, be sure to check out “Come Walk.” 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.

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. Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing.

Photo Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Library

This Moment

Posted on: June 3rd, 2012 by tobendlight

Every 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?

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)

Posts Tagged ‘spiritual journies’

The Details of Beauty

Let Us Meet

The Open Space

All is Well

This Moment

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