A book of Prayers!!!

I recently re-found a book that was given to me more then a few years ago: “Prayers and Blessings and Hymns” or known as “Grace, Hymns, and Blessings” compiled and arranged by Rabbi CH. M. Brecher, New York: KTAV Publishing, 1960.

On page 5 there is a morning prayer for children:

“Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of all the world (of the universe), Who has made our bodies wisely, with many passageways for our health. It is known to You, seated on Your throne of glory, that if any of these passages be wrongly closed or opened, we could no longer live or stand up before You. Blessed are You, O Lord, Who heals all bodies and performs so many miracles.

O God, the soul You gave me is clean. You made and created it; You breathed life into me, and keep me alive. I know that some day You will take life from me, but only to continue it in another world. So long as my soul lives, I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, god of all who came before me, Ruler of all things formed about me, and Master of all souls. Blessed are You, O Lord Who can return life even to the dead.

The following is to be said while the fringes are held:

I am ready to obey the commandment concerning the fringes (tzitzis) to place on our garments; for the Torah orders our people-“And they shall make fringes.”

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of all the world (of the universe), Who has made us holy through Your commandments, and has commanded us to make fringes.

May it be Your wish, O Lord my God, and god of all who came before me, that the way in which I have obeyed the commandment concerning the fringes be considered perfectly performed, and that I also be considered to have fulfilled all the 613 commandments based upon this one. Amen!”


Now this, to me, seemed like a rather long poem, but I started asking myself:

Do I help Pearl thank and recognize God’s amazing grace from all of creation through each person individually?

Do I help Pearl acknowledge the majesty and rightful place of God as king of the universe?

Do I help Pearl thank God for the health we have?

Do I help Pearl thank God for miracles?

So many questions I could ask, but to finish up with two more?

Do I help Pearl pray for help to continually be obedient to better fulfill “Loving God with all… (her) heart, soul, strength, and mind” as well as loving… (her) neighbor as… (herself)” as seen in Matthew 22:37-39.

I mean if we all work every day at teaching, leading, and loving our children to live out a prayer like this one… what would the world be like?

I am excited apathy is not as widespread as I thought

In the aftermath of 9-11 I saw people looking to God for help and I saw many amazing things. I know God is not the author of evil, but that He can use all for His will and purpose and I was blown away at the sacrifices people made during 9-11 from firemen, police, people giving their own, and the loved ones left make sense of it all. Today after dropping my daughter off at preschool I was driving home, back to Timblin, and I passed an elimentary school where I saw teachers gathering all the students, those little elimentary school kids, and I was glad at first and started getting excited thinking about how little 9-11 is talked about, remembered, or the grace of God in the midst of it celebrated and honored. I looked back at those people around the flagpole and got excited because apathy is not as widespread as I thought it was and I thought about a passage in scripture where Jesus talks about letting the little ones come to him for such as these belong the kingdom of heaven. For us to honestly and purely come before God, admitting we are weak and need help, looking to God to answer our prayers, and honor as well as celebrate God's hand in the midst of hurt, reminds me we can no longer live the days of doing nothing, of having faith, that only affects our lives when we walk through the church doors and into the sanctuary, but must permiate every aspect of our lives down to whatever is inside the protons, neutrons, and electrons, inside every cell of our bodies.

I hope you look around this September 11th and see whatever God wants you to see and share it with someone else.