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I lay me down and I sleep, I awake for the Lord sustaineth me. (Psalms 3:6) | |
Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my God and my King, for unto Thee do I pray. O Lord in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice. In the morning will I order my prayer unto Thee, and will look forward. For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. Evil shall not sojourn with Thee. The boasters shall not stand in Thy sight… (Psalms 5:2-6) But as for me, in the abundance of Thy lovingkindness I come into Thy house. I will bow down in Thy holy Temple in the fear of Thee. (Psalms 5:8) | |
At the dawn I seek Thee, Refuge, Rock sublime, Set my prayers before Thee in the morning And my prayer at eventime. I, before Thy greatness, stand and am afraid. And withal what is it, heart and tongue can do? But indeed man’s singing may seem good to Thee. | |
The simple tasks of every day require energy and faith. Daily duty with its inevitable repetition becomes irksome, and joyous tasks gradually turn into halfhearted toil. Time dampens our enthusiasm and in our weariness we begin to doubt the value of our labors. Each new day when we are called upon to face the same tasks, we grow tired and our toil begins to seem futile, our achievements insignificant, and our ideals hopeless. It is the routine of life that saps the energies, dulls the courage and weakens faith. | |
In order that man continue his work in patience and in strength, he must try to infuse the spirit of his rare moments of creative joy into the routine of his common tasks. Our fathers understood this necessity for daily inspiration, and therefore they conceived of themselves as laboring in a great cause. God, they said, was their Employer and they labored in His workshop fulfilling His mighty plans. They strengthened themselves with the confident hope that any man, if he be patient, true and brave, may become the co-worker of God Himself in the creation and the maintenance of the world. | |
The unfailing strength of such an ideal is waiting for every man who seeks it. When man emerges every morning from the mystery of sleep into the bright daylight of waking life, let him begin the day with thanks to the God of all men, for life restored and strength renewed. Before he begins his daily tasks let him spend a moment in contemplation of the work of the divine Artisan who renews daily the wonders of His creation. Let him pray humbly for a share of the infinite creative power. | |
If man will begin his task with the reverent consciousness of God’s presence, then even his humblest achievement will be holy unto the Lord. If man will strive with the beginning of each day to make the day’s work acceptable to God, then even if he fall short of full achievement, and even if his fellowmen deem his work to have failed, he will have succeeded in the sight of God, who sees the hearts of men. God will establish the work of his hands.[1] Cf. Psalms 90:17 | |
Master of the world, mighty Creator, how manifold are Thy works. In wisdom hast Thou created them, and in lovingkindness dost Thou constantly maintain them. Into our frail hearts hast Thou breathed Thy spirit, inspiring us to toil, and teaching us to worship Thee by the work of our hands. We thank Thee, O Father, for the impulse to labor, for the tasks which call upon our powers, for the countless opportunities to continue Thy creative work. We thank Thee for those moments of joy when we can look upon the work of our hands and truly say: Behold it is good.[2] Cf. Genesis 1:31 | |
Heavenly Master, at the dawn of a new day, hear our voice. Thou art the source of our strength. Unless Thou build our house, in vain do we toil. Without Thy presence we lose faith in our strength, our courage ebbs and difficulties defeat us. Before the toil of the day begins, we lay before Thee the meditations of our heart. May they be acceptable in Thy sight. We commend the results of our labor into Thy hands; may they be deemed worthy of Thine approval. Grant us, O divine Source of strength, the power to toil patiently and to hope for Thy blessing. May this day bring us nearer to Thee. Amen. |
This “Morning Prayer” is found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 12-14. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution to any of the prayers in this volume. The author was likely one of the members of the Committee on Book of Meditations and Prayers: Solomon B. Freehof, Israel Bettan, Abraham Cronbach, Morris S. Lazaron, and Abram Simon.
Source(s)
“Morning Prayer [for creative joy in labor] (CCAR 1923)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication.
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