Before sunrise, around the world, Hebrews utter the before blessing. It is the first prayer a Hebrews child learns, thanking his or her Creator for a new day. For a male, it is 'modeh.' For a female 'modah.'
The blessing reminds me of Lamentations 3, there we are reminded of G-d faithfulness to all generations.
I have to confess, since I can remember, I have had a life long love affair with my bed. I love my sleep. I love the comfort of my bed and have not often been one to quickly rise in the morning. As a teen, my mother spend spend a small fortune on alarm clocks; when ever that hateful little bedside clock would dare cling the hour of my rising, it would find its poor little metal being being thrown across my bedroom, smashed into tiny pieces. Mother, then started putting the clock across the bedroom on my dress. The new clock would sound.
I got up, open the window and Time that day really did fly as I tossed the thing out the window.
Soon, my mother hit upon an idea; a radio clock. Since I love music, she figured a radio clock would fair better.
And she was right.
But becoming a morning person was a slow progress. I figured since G-d never sleeps nor slumber, no need for me to rush to get up.
But some twenty five years ago, I discovered a gem in my Bible reading; that the great men and women of scripture, rose early in the morning to seek the Face of G-d.
Being a single mother and often having the the first shift, I needed more than to just getting up, hitting the shower and praying I didn't burn the pancakes before I send my son to school. I needed that quiet time with my Father. I needed to speak to Him; to get His help for the the day ahead. I have a child and older patients. I needed His grace and wisdom.
It would be another ten year before I remember the above blessing.
It was an autumn morning, I was laying in my bed, as the words slowly drifted to the forefront of my mind....."I thank you, O Living King..."
These are the first words we utter every morning—while still lying in bed. It is the first conscious moments are spent thanking G‑d for the gift of life. That we even awoke this morning. I remember a dear lady I met about twenty years ago. Such a sweet woman that after she and her husband divorced, she continued to care for her former mother-in-law. Goldie was my age when she passed away. In her sleep of a Stroke. How many people around the world breathed their last before the sunrise today.
How we take the Gift of Life, our very breath for granted.
It is a new day. A new beginning. It doesn’t matter what I did yesterday or last night; it is a new day, nothing touches this fresh start.
I remember a rabbi I studied under once liked the Mohah Ani as "laying upon our beds and when we awake, there is Queen Elizabeth, waiting for us to arise, for she has a royal task they have for us.
Well, in our case, it isn't the Queen, but the One who creates kings, presidents, who created the entire world-and each of us."
So now, I am not so quick to complain about having to get up in the morning.
I'm too thankful the Giver of Life allowed me to see and enjoy this day of promise.
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