195 - A Prayer for Prayer

I have been taking a “Distance Learning” course with the Jewish Theological Seminary called “Finding Spirituality in Prayer.” Taught by Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, we have been grappling with the problem of finding meaning in the act of prayer. We have talked about the role that silence plays in prayer and what things can lead us into prayer. Most people’s experience of prayer is in synagogue while mine is primarily a solitary activity as I daven at home for the most part. Many of the students have expressed frustration with noise and distraction during communal prayer. I know I am frustrated when my words feel like they are on auto-pilot and my mind has trouble focusing on their meaning and intention. Rabbi Diamond has writes that “the main point is that God is present.” He continues: “Sometimes I experience that presence simply through my own breathing - or the breathing of others. I think of the morning prayer ‘My God, the soul (literally breath) You have placed within me…’.”.

One Hundred Ninety-Five

A Prayer for Prayer

My lips open to declare Your glory:
Ancient words, ordered, true,
Speak across centuries,
My pulse beat timed to their melodies.

I know the songs to sing Your praise.
They come to me as in dreams
And in quiet moments.
My mind wanders through them.

My mind wanders praying.
I stare into the book’s near distance
And search the spaces and characters,
Seeking You.

Let me come to You.
Focus my heart on the far distance
Of the Eternal.
Elevate my soul’s offering.