the best part of waking up...

"You should wake up with gratitude to G-d for having restored your faculties, and with a lionlike resolve to serve your Creator, you should immediately declare:

I gratefully thank You, O living and eternal King, for You have returned [I say 'awakened'] my soul within me with compassion-- abundant is Your faithfulness."

~ "Upon Arising" from the

Artscroll Women's Siddur~

Thus begins the "Shacharit," or morning prayers in the Siddur. It should be the first thing one says when waking up each morning. If you're like me, perhaps you have mumbled it to yourself occassionally while dragging yourself out of bed to tend to the little one whose gleeful chatter flows from the baby monitor. I know that lions can be fairly lazy at times, but I don't think this is what is meant by "lionlike resolve!" I consider myself a "morning person" to an extent, because that is usually when I'm most productive and have the most energy. However, I cannot even begin to compare myself with my daughter, who is definitely a morning person! When she wakes up, she hardly ever cries. Rather, she jumps right back into the conversation she was having with herself the previous day... she squeals, she laughs, she bangs on the crib...

She has been a great reminder to me that the best part of waking up is not Folger's in your cup (although I do drink Folger's in the morning), but the best part of waking up is waking up! As soon as we realize that we have been given another day of life, there is more than enough reason to exclaim our gratitude! It is only with G-d's help that we are able to breathe at all. As it is stated in the "Bedtime Shema," we ask G-d "may You illuminate my eyes lest I die in sleep, for it is You who illuminates the pupil of the eye." Without His approval, there would be no waking up.

It's nice to read Psalm 5 in the morning, because in verse 3, it says: "In the morning, O L-RD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch." Mornings can be difficult for families, especially with small children. Nevertheless, we should strive to express our gratitude to HaShem and let Him hear our voice, so that we can prepare ourselves to "eagerly watch" and see what He will do throughout the day ahead.

don't be an exception...

"Does not all nature around me praise G-d? If I were silent, I should be an exception to the universe. Does not the thunder praise Him as it rolls like drums in the march of the G-d of armies? Do not the mountains praise Him when the woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Does not the lightning write His name in letters of fire? Has not the whole earth a voice? And shall I, can I, silent be?" C.H. Spurgeon

I love this quote! It's a very powerful reminder of G-d's creation being a physical manifestation of His beauty and His power. Every time you hear thunder (I hear some now) or see lightning, remember to praise Him. His creativity is boundless and its beauty is beyond all words... and to think that He created it all for our sake, to give us no excuse to not believe in Him and not know Him. With a G-d like this, how could you not want to know Him? And with these constant reminders in nature, how could we not praise Him? Don't let yourself become an exception to the universe today.

Praise Him...

awakening the dawn

One aspect of having a baby in the house is never really needing an alarm clock. Today she woke me at 5:30am to be fed, but she went back to sleep (and I chose not to). So here I am, awakening the dawn with the sound of this keyboard...

I love mornings. I always have, but in the exhaustion of not having a really good night's sleep in almost 8 months, I don't usually get up before Elisheva so there's not much time to savor what a beautiful time of day this is. Especially being awake before the sun, when the world still seems asleep and at rest. It seems like this is the closest we get to seeing the world at rest, at least for now. It's a beautiful time to praise HaShem for His creation and for all He has done for us.

Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. I will give thanks to You, O L-rd, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O G-d; Let Your glory be above all the earth. Psalm 57:8-11

The first thing we do when we awake should be to praise G-d for giving us life for another day, as it says in the siddur: "I gratefully thank You, O Living and Eternal King, for awakening my soul within me with compassion; abundant is Your faithfulness..."

May we awaken the dawn with our praise of Him today. Apparently, I have awakened more than that: Elisheva is crying...

I don't feel like it...

Jerusalem 2005

While waiting for my daughter's storytime to begin at the library yesterday, I picked up a book and read a lot of it last night. It's called "Sacred Chaos: Spiritual Disciplines for the Life You Have" by Tricia McCary Rhodes. It's an interesting read and perhaps contains some thoughts that I really needed to hear at this time in my life.

The author talks about seeking to live our chaotic lives in G-d's presence rather than seeking to withdraw from the chaos in order to find G-d in solitude. Not saying that solitude is a bad thing, but that it is not the only way, and often not the most practical way (especially if you are a mother of small children) to seek G-d's face.

Let me tell you about the "two-minute miracle" which she mentions. She says this is "a technique physical therapists use to help patients overcome their resistance to exercise. They tell them that when they don't want to take a walk, they should say that though they don't feel like walking, they will for just two minutes. Then when they finish that, they might tell themselves the same thing again. The point is that before they know it, they're walking and enjoying it and at some point along the way find themselves eager to do the entire therapy plan." I think this technique could be very helpful to me if I apply it to things that I don't feel like doing. As a woman, there are many things I choose not to do because I don't feel like doing them. Just as the author applied this technique to prayer, so will I.

I struggle with prayer because I don't feel like praying when I actually feel like I have a chance to pray. Like when Elisheva is sleeping (which she is doing now), I could be talking to G-d or reading Scripture instead of writing this for you to read. G-d has His ways, though, because when I turned on the computer to write this because I felt He was prompting me to share it, it wouldn't bring up my desktop so I could get online. I had to wait and wait and then turn it back off and back on... but because I was thinking about prayer, you know what I did... I prayed before I turned it back on and it came up instantly. But for that couple of minutes in between, I talked to G-d about what I was feeling and what I was thinking about writing because if He is not in this, it does nothing for me or for you. I think sometimes G-d just wants to get our attention for a moment so He can remind us what's really important. Rhodes also writes about taking a moment to 'check in' with G-d throughout your day, asking Him what you should be doing or thinking or saying, etc. I would like to put that into practice, especially before I turn on the computer to write an entry on this blog...

There is a time-honored tradition and a Scriptural precedent for praying three times a day at intentional set times. Psalm 55:17 says "Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice" (I thought there was a more positive verse regarding this, but this is what I found. Don't worry, G-d is not afraid of your complaining and if you are talking to Him, then you are praying!) Another instance is the example that Daniel set while in Babylon, praying three times a day towards Jerusalem in front of his window (Daniel 6:10). I have to admit, if I even go through an abridged version of the prayers in the siddur once a day and speak to G-d also in my own words, I'm doing good. But three times a day, I'm not there yet. I won't list excuses... let's just say that I don't feel like it...

The most encouraging and convicting notion that we could ever consult is to look at the example we should be following: Yeshua. He prayed. He prayed often. Every time I ponder that, it blows my mind. The Son of G-d prayed, and it makes perfect sense that He needed to pray because He was fully man. Rhodes put it like this: "With a heart set on accomplishing his Father's will, he cried out for the physical strength, mental acuity, emotional balance and spiritual focus to do so." Do you need these? I know I do. Often easier said than done, but if Yeshua prayed, then we should too. If Yeshua needed anything, we need so much more. Let us allow our need to remind us to speak to the One who supplies our every need. Let us take the time to be intentional in our prayer, whether we feel like it or not. Let's thank Him, praise Him, ask Him questions, and most importantly, let us listen and obey. Mothers, let us make the chaos sacred...