Good morning, Chaverim,
I stumbled upon this gorgeous poem/prayer in our Siddur this week. I am grateful for its message and its vision and thought it worthy of your contemplation…and maybe even a little practice??
Here is today’s Gratitude Thought in the Middle of a Pandemic:
Deliverance”Why am I not a flower, a human flower?
Bless me, bless my spirit with tenderness instead of might:
allow smiles instead of words to unfurl in me,
giving light to this world always,
gifting love and good luck,
my hair, orchids.
Indoors, let my steps be fingers
dancing on piano keys.
Tenderness, name of Divinity, be the image of God in me.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
In all of human history it seems that “might” and “words” have far too often been used by the few to gain and wield power over, and at the expense of, the many. Day after day, year after year, we see and hear all around us this seemingly endless story, this sad old song relentlessly pounding out its ancient drumbeat, playing upon our fears, calling forth our hatreds and our worst instincts…and we feel powerless to stop it, unable to do anything that could possibly make a difference.
But, here I must stop myself and turn away from despair, from the lure of negativity and pessimism and my fear that we and our world may indeed be beyond redemption. Instead, I need to take to heart Heschel’s wisdom and his vision for the part we can (and must?) each play in our individual and collective “deliverance”. As Rav Heschel’s beautiful prayer implies, there IS something we can each do with our “spirits blessed with tenderness”. We can each bring our tender spirits, our “light”, this “image of G-d” as it has uniquely expressed itself in each one of us, into our troubled world. We can let our “smiles unfurl”, “gifting love and good luck” to all whom we meet, with hopeful, open hearts flowing with tenderness, compassion and loving kindness (chesed).
What a vision…what possibilities…what a world that could be!
On this Shabbat, in this (still) new year, may we each do our small, precious part in making it so.
Shabbat Shalom,
Marci
