Being True to Your Unique Self With Morning Prayer

By Marc Gafni

from a work in progress “Dance of Tears”

Prayer is the restoration of the divine image through the restoration of the dignity of the word.
Prayer, teach the masters, models sacred speech.
Writes the Maggid of Mezeritch…

“Take special care to guard your tongue
Before the morning prayer,
Even greeting your fellow we are told
Can be harmful at that hour.
A person who wakes up in the morning is
Like a new creation,
Begin your day with unkind words…
Even though you may later turn to prayer,
You have not been true to your creation.
All of your words each day
Are related one to another…
All of them are rooted
In the first words that you speak –
{So begin each day with prayer}”