A Good Start To The Morning

A Good Start to the Morning

Our tradition recommends you recite a short prayer as soon as you open your eyes in the morning:

Modeh ani l’fanech melech el hai v’kayam she-he-chezarti bi nishmati b’hemla rabba emunatecha

I offer thanks to you, Living and Eternal God, for you have mercifully restored my soul within me, your faithfulness is great.

The roots of this prayer are found in a Midrash on the verse from Lamentations 3:23: “They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.”  Rabbi Shimon bar Abba, who lived in 3^rd century Palestine, reads this verse as teaching that we know of God’s great faithfulness because God renews our life every morning.  We do not rely on faith, but learn from our daily experience.  Since you wake up every morning to life renewed, you express your thanks for all the opportunities that await you in your new day of life.

This prayer can exert a dramatic effect on your day.  The notion is that if the very first thought you have upon awakening is positive, you have set the pattern for the rest of your day.  The first words out of your mouth thank God for the pure soul within you.  Your first action is to acknowledge the wonderful world in which you live.  Your words of thanks, of appreciation, and of affirmation start you on an affirmative course for the day. 

Reciting this prayer is simple – it is only 13 words long.  Adding this to your morning as a steady ritual is difficult – so many things get in the way.  So here are three suggestions on how you can integrate this into your day.

1) Have a copy readily available at your bedside.  On our website at http://www.etzhayim.org/uipublish_files/Morning Prayer.htm you will find this prayer and two other common morning prayers.    If the prayer is easy to find, you are more likely to take the few seconds required to recite it.

2) Pause before getting out of bed.  Some people like to bound out of bed to get their day started.  There is, however, a certain pleasure in lying in bed with your eyes open and considering the opportunities that lay ahead of you. Just having a moment to yourself before confronting all of the details of the new day may give you time to recite these few words of prayer.

3) Count your blessings.  You have so many things to be thankful for – so start your morning by reflecting on the gifts in your life.  This does not need to be an extended meditation, even 10 seconds of thanks for your sight, your strength, your family, your creativity – all the gifts that you carry forward into the day.  Include among your gifts the fact that you are alive at this moment.  This prayer is a quick way to express your thankfulness for the gifts of your life.