35 - At Diagnosis

The National Center for Jewish Healing is preparing a new publication called “Guide Me Along The Way: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Surgery.” Written by Rabbi Simka Weintraub, it is a gentle guide, filled with prayers, stories, personal experiences, and other resources. I was delighted to have a number of my psalms included in its pages. This one is taken from Chapter III: During Surgery.

Thirty-Five

At Diagnosis
For A.I.G.

Sit beside me, O Eternal:
Comfort my soul.

At the clamoring bell of news revealed,
You listen with me,
Hearing my disbelief,
Absorbing my gasp of fright.

Wait beside me, O Eternal:
Comfort my soul.

Recall to me my cherished memories
To bring me forward through adversity,
To stretch from then to now to beyond,
Beckoning to a future You will guard.

Walk beside me, O Eternal:
Comfort my soul.

Help me find the broken pieces,
Gathering them to my trembling hand,
Raw materials for my future life.
Let me find Your hand in this design.

Watch beside me, O Eternal:
Comfort my soul.

Reform me to a different vessel:
Altered by dark fires of fortune,
Hardened in an unknown kiln,
Burning away the superficial.

Wrap me in Your healing light,
Wrap me in Your healing care.