{"id":7,"date":"2012-06-21T17:36:44","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T21:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/?p=7"},"modified":"2012-06-21T17:36:44","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T21:36:44","slug":"how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html","title":{"rendered":"How To Make Your Life A Blessing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div>Jewish tradition tells the story of a wise man who met with a king. The king challenged the man with a riddle. He said, \u201cIn my hands is a small bird. Is it alive or dead?\u201d The wise man paused and looked down.<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/06\/bird-photo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/341\/2012\/06\/bird-photo-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"to make our lives a blessing\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He thought to himself, \u201cIf I say it is alive, he will close his hand and crush it. If I say it is dead, he will open his hand and let it fly away.\u201d The wise man turned his head up and said in a soft yet commanding voice, \u201cIt\u2019s all in your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same is true for us. Our lives are in our hands. It is not always be easy. We face struggle, challenges, difficulties. Yet, like the Biblical Jacob, we can derive blessings from them. We can, to use the beautiful phrase of the late singer Debbie Friedman, \u201cfind the courage to make our lives a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>I believe Judaism\u2019s gift to the world is teaching us how. This blog will be devoted to uncovering those lessons.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>To make our lives we blessings, we need to count our blessings and speak our blessings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Counting our blessings:<\/strong> As a father of two young children, I am truly blessed. Yet that\u2019s easy to forget at 3:00 AM when one child\u2019s loud crying wakes up the other.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">One of the ways I remind myself is by following an ancient Jewish custom. In Judaism the first thing we are \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 supposed to do each morning is sit up and say the words, \u201cI am grateful to you, Oh God, who has restored my soul from sleep and given me the breath of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">No sighing. No turning our pillows over and burying our heads in them. We recognize the blessing of life. We prime ourselves to live with gratitude. We count our blessings and find happiness in them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Saying blessings:<\/strong> It is not enough, however, to recognize and count our blessings. We have to say them. Acknowledge them. Speak them. That\u2019s why the ancient Jewish sages urged us to say 100 blessings a day!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Something magical happens when we give expression to our feelings. About a month ago, I saw an example of this magic. I was in my office when a member of my congregation came by. He had a burning question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was dining at a restaurant in New York,\u201d he began. \u201cA few tables away from me a man stood up and proposed to his girlfriend. She said yes, and everybody in the restaurant cheered. Then the man walked quietly over to a corner, put on a yamacha (a Jewish ritual headcovering), and said some type of blessing. His and his fiance\u2019s eyes filled with tears. Rabbi, do you have any idea what blessing he said.\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/06\/blessings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-12\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/341\/2012\/06\/blessings-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"jewish blessings\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I recited a blessing I thought it might be, and he said, \u201cYes, that\u2019s it! Do you have a copy?\u201d \u201cSure,\u201d I said. \u201cWhy do you ask?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am planning to propose to my girlfriend this weekend, and I want to say it with her.\u201d<br \/>\nWith tears in my eyes, I handed him the blessing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How a Blessing Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Blessings express our feelings. They need not be traditional ones. They simply need to come from the heart. When they do, they can change our lives.<\/p>\n<p>I experienced this truth near the end of my grandfather\u2019s life. We were very close. Up until his death, I tried to talk to or visit him every day. We would usually end our conversations with my saying \u201cTalk to you tomorrow.\u201d We did not say, \u201cI love you.\u201d He was not a warm fuzzy kind of guy, and it just did not feel right.<\/p>\n<p>But during the last few weeks of his life, something changed. Perhaps it was the birth of my daughter Hannah, or perhaps it was his declining condition. Our moments became more fused with meaning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Saying I Love You<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A month before he died, I was sitting by his bed and we were talking. As I got up to leave, I felt a twitch in my stomach. I turned to him and said, \u201cGrandpa, I love you.\u201d He didn\u2019t say anything. But our connection had changed. Thereafter, we ended each conversation with my saying \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Saying I love you to our dearest ones blesses them and us. It is a way we make our lives a blessing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jewish tradition tells the story of a wise man who met with a king. The king challenged the man with a riddle. He said, \u201cIn my hands is a small bird. Is it alive or dead?\u201d The wise man paused and looked down. He thought to himself, \u201cIf I say it is alive, he will&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,3,5,4,6],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-beliefnet","tag-blessings","tag-jewish","tag-prayer","tag-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How To Make Your Life A Blessing - Truths You Can Use<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Make Your Life A Blessing - Truths You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jewish tradition tells the story of a wise man who met with a king. The king challenged the man with a riddle. He said, \u201cIn my hands is a small bird. Is it alive or dead?\u201d The wise man paused and looked down. He thought to himself, \u201cIf I say it is alive, he will&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Truths You Can Use\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-21T21:36:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/06\/bird-photo-300x211.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evan Moffic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@chicagorabbi\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How To Make Your Life A Blessing - Truths You Can Use","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How To Make Your Life A Blessing - Truths You Can Use","og_description":"Jewish tradition tells the story of a wise man who met with a king. The king challenged the man with a riddle. He said, \u201cIn my hands is a small bird. Is it alive or dead?\u201d The wise man paused and looked down. He thought to himself, \u201cIf I say it is alive, he will&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html","og_site_name":"Truths You Can Use","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RabbiEvan\/","article_published_time":"2012-06-21T21:36:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/06\/bird-photo-300x211.jpg"}],"author":"Evan Moffic","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@chicagorabbi","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html","name":"How To Make Your Life A Blessing - Truths You Can Use","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/06\/bird-photo-300x211.jpg","datePublished":"2012-06-21T21:36:44+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-21T21:36:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#\/schema\/person\/55ddc5e03d79abbfcc6d4f944687d65d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/06\/bird-photo-300x211.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/truthsyoucanuse\/files\/2012\/06\/bird-photo-300x211.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/2012\/06\/how-to-make-your-life-a-blessing.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How To Make Your Life A Blessing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/","name":"Truths You Can Use","description":"Jewish Wisdom, Jewish Blogs, Daily Jewish Inspiration and Jewish News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/truthsyoucanuse\/#\/schema\/person\/55ddc5e03d79abbfcc6d4f944687d65d","name":"Evan Moffic","description":"Rabbi Evan Moffic writes for people of all faiths. His book, What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus was a 2015 best-seller. His upcoming book of devotions\u2014Shalom for the Heart\u2014takes short biblical passages and show they way they can help us make better choices and live with fewer regrets. With Rabbi Moffic, you will find an open, accessible guide to life\u2019s deepest truths. A husband and father, he graduated from Stanford University in 2000, and was ordained a rabbi in 2006. He leads a congregation in suburban Chicago. 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