In the spirit of continuing to identify what prayer, prayerfulness, and spirituality mean to me, I’m trying to pause and reflect on the question, “What was prayerful for me today?” The only thing that’s tricky doing this in the context of a blog is my willingness to honestly answer this question as well as feeling the need sometimes to explain or contextualize what I write here. Certainly in no particular order…
1) reading books to my children before school, especially my 18 month old who has developed such a strong love of being read to
2) reconnecting with an old colleague in an exciting and future oriented way
3) studying Torah with two colleagues while observing a sample lesson in Jewish studies
4) leading a walking meditation with 5th graders in our outdoor nature sanctuary
5) running into the landscape architect there and advising her on a meaningful way to orient 5 stones that have Davis Academy’s menschlichkeit values inscribed on them
6) after the walking meditation hearing a child express that her expectations for the year had not been met, and then wondering together how we measure whether our expectations are met
7) listening to middle school students share their wisdom with rising 6th graders and being in awe of their articulate and gracious sharing
8) listening to a colleague in a moment of frustration
9) being invited to think about rabbinic colleagues that might be good candidates to join a committee I’m a part of and having a chance to think about people that I don’t think about on a regular basis
10) having dinner alone
11) completing a 3rd day of a foray into the world of gluten-free based on an intuition that gluten is part of the problem in terms of ongoing sinus congestion and feeling successful for making it through another day
12) catching a rare live performance of “Mission in the Rain” on the Grateful Dead Channel (6-18-76 for those who are interested) and then taking a quick peek at the chord progression for this amazing song online
13) catching up with an old friend who will be in Atlanta this summer, saying to him that his visit will be a highlight of my summer, and really meaning it
What makes these moments prayerful? I’m wondering aloud here but… a sense of connection, sometimes a sense of completion, a moment of honoring something beautiful, feeling like I was able to help someone, being in the right place at the right time, intentional listening, dreaming about what a bright future might look like, meditating…