Posts Tagged ‘spring’

 

Three Meditations for Tu B’Shvat

Posted on: January 24th, 2021 by Alden

Here are three meditations for Tu B’Shvat. It’s also called Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot, the ‘New Year of the Trees,’ which begins Wednesday evening, Jan. 27, 2021. A festival of renewal and hope, it’s celebrated as an ecological awareness day, as well as a day for planting trees.

Orchid, Cedar and Date Palm
If only I could see
Your love as an orchid blossom,
I would smell the secret scent of holiness
From the heavens.

If only I could see
Your love as a cedar in Lebanon
I would stand tall in the strength
Of Your glory.

If only I could see
Your love as a date palm,
I would become the sweet fruit
Of divine plenty.

This Prayer is a Tree
Could it be
That a prayer
Is like a tree
Falling in the woods?
No one needs to hear
Its thunderous crash,
For its nutrients to soak
Back into the earth.
For its hollows
To provide shelter.
For it to become
One with life itself.

Let your prayers
Pour out upon
The fertile ground
Of your heart.
Let your prayers
Feed your aching soul.

Could it be
That your prayer
Is like a tree
Falling in the woods?
No one needs to see it
Crack and tumble
For it to clear space
For new growth.
For it to open space,
Letting sunlight
Penetrate the deep.
For it to become
One with life itself.

Tending Gardens
Wildflowers bloom,
A field of colors,
A meadow on a hillside,
Wild and free,
Tended by sun and rain,
Gently painted by the will of the earth.

Another place of delight,
My garden blooms,
A blueprint from my heart,
Guided by my hand
Tended with love and affection
Planted according to my design.

G-d of splendor,
Grant me the willingness to plant gardens
And the wisdom to leave other gardens
To Your loving hand.
Teach me the beauty of doing
And glory not doing.
Grant me the power to act
And the strength to refrain.
Let my will to create,
And my willingness to accept,
Find balance and harmony
In my heart and in my hands,
So that my doing,
And my not doing,
Serve Your will
And Your world.

“Orchid, Cedar and Date Palm” and “This Prayer is a Tree” are © 2020 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. “Tending Gardens” is © 2021 CCAR Press from This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer.

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Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and my two CCAR Press books: This Joyous Soul: A New Voice for Ancient Yearnings 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: Alden Solovy

Spring, Again

Posted on: March 16th, 2011 by tobendlight

Spring arrives again on March 20, 2011. Here’s a prayer for the season. To listen as you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

For Spring
Shimmering, radiant air
Alive with new warmth.
Sunshine waking the earth,
Calling the grasses to grow,
Bulbs to prepare flowers.
Winds clear the last remnants of seasons past,
Old leaves and dry branches
Making way for new life.
And the rain joins the sun to feed the land.
Bless this day, G-d of seasons.
Bless the Spring with energy and hope.
Be present with us as we celebrate the glory of creation
Planting the land and our lives with Your gifts,
These gardens of holiness and love.

G-d of time and space,
May this season be a blessing and a teacher.
Make me like the sunshine, a source of light.
Make me like the earth, a source of bounty, ready to give.
Bless my days with service and my nights with peace.
Make me like a garden,
A source of beauty and purpose,
Sustenance and splendor.

© 2010 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Other seasonal prayers include: “For Rain,” “For Autumn,” “For Winter” and “For the New Year.” This prayer was first posted on March 23, 2010.

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For Spring

Posted on: March 23rd, 2010 by tobendlight

SONY DSCSpring arrives. This prayer first appeared in my book, Haggadah Companion: Meditations and Readings, where I suggest that it would be a lovely supplement to the karpas ceremony. It also appears in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. To listen while you read, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

 

For Spring
Shimmering, radiant air
Alive with new warmth.
Sunshine waking the earth,
Calling the grasses to grow,
Bulbs to prepare flowers.
Winds clear the last remnants of seasons past,
Old leaves and dry branches
Making way for new life.
And the rain joins the sun to feed the land.
Bless this day, God of seasons.
Bless the Spring with energy and hope.
Be present with us as we celebrate the glory of Creation
Planting the land and our lives with Your gifts,
These gardens of holiness and love.

God of time and space,
May this season be a blessing and a teacher.
Make me like the sunshine, a source of light.
Make me like the earth, a source of bounty, ready to give.
Bless my days with service and my nights with peace.
Make me like a garden,
A source of beauty and purpose,
Sustenance and splendor.

© 2017 CCAR Press from This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day

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Postscript: Other seasonal prayers that also appear in This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day include: “For Winter,” “For Summer,” “For Autumn” and “For Rain.”

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: Alden Solovy

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