Embracing Life (3 Prayers)

Embracing Life (3 Prayers)

Earth, ourselves,

breathe and awaken,

leaves are stirring,

all things moving,

new day coming,

life renewing.

-Pawnee prayer

from Prayers for Healing, ed. Maggie Oman

 

Blessed art Thou, oh Lord, every day,

Because every day is precious.

Every day is a lifetime mirroring all life itself.

Thank you for the morning when I feel fresh and young

And wake to the beauty all around me.

Thank you for the afternoon when the sun is high

Suspended in triumph above a work-a-day world.

Thank you for the evening when the shadows cast a sheltering

palm above the universe

Permitting it to pause ready for the dark.

Thank you for the night with the ever-present stars

To remind me that darkness is never absolute.

Thank you for the calm that is restorative,

Not a mindless obliteration of reality

Thank you for the sleep that heals and strengthens

And fills my heart with hope for a new tomorrow.

Marcia H., Twelve Steps to Jewish Recovery

 

O God

Give me strength to forget

Evils over and done,

History's fall and fouls,

Yesterday's frozen hope.

 

And give me strength to keep watch

For fair weather after a stormy day,

Incense of flowers

And quiet waves.

 

Give me strength to wait and time to hope:

Until the last day

Strength to keep watch and rejoice

As doves are hatched and babes are born

As flowers bud and blossom

And visions break out and grow.

Give me strength,

O God.

Eliezer Bugatin, from On the Doorposts of Your House