As Yom Kippur begins, I began thinking of the tremendous power encapsulated in the concept of "Atonement". Not just an opportunity to release ourselves of our wrong doing, to renew our spirit and to begin again; I realize all that we have been given that allows to have these spiritual benefits. This is a poem I found on an online version of the Machzor. If anyone knows its origins please let me know. --Shana Tova Gmar Chatima Tova! For these we give thanks O God, to whom we come so often with needs to be satisfied, we come to You now in gratitude for what we already have and are. -For gifts beyond deserving or counting, we give thanks. You have given us the ability to become more than we have been, the urge to be more than we are, and a gnawing hunger to attain heights only dimly imagined. -For the power to grow, we give thanks. You have endowed us with the capacity to discern the difference between right and wrong; and You have enabled us to follow the right, to avoid the wrong. -For the power to choose, we give thanks. You have blessed us with the ability to fashion things of beauty, to sing new songs, to spin new tales, to add to the treasure-house of human civilization. -For the power to create, we give thanks. You have equipped us with the yearning to commune with You, to bring You our fears and our dreams, our hurts and our joys, our guilt and our gratitude; to share hopes and concerns with You and with others. -For the power to pray, we give thanks. You have fortified us with the ability to rise above disappointment and failure, to go on after we have been bruised and bereaved, to refuse to submit to defeat and despair. -For the power to hope, we give thanks. You have enlarged us with the ability to cherish others, to make their lives as dear to us as our very own, to share their hopes, to feel their hurts, to know their hearts. -For the power to love, we give thanks. You have ennobled us with the strength to overcome our faults, to mend our ways, and to answer the summons “to turn to You with all our heart and soul.” -For the possibilities of renewal, we give thanks
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 07:02:03 +0000
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