Blessing the King of the Universe

I started a new book and will probably want to share way too much about it, so bear with me :). It's called Blessing the King of the Universe, written by Irene Lipson. It explains using traditional Jewish blessings to transform your life, basically how to praise God. I thought I'd share one today. I won't write in Hebrew because none of us could pronounce it.

"Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this season"

This one can be used simply when you see the beginning of something new, like today when I saw my first flower bulbs coming up. It can also be used at the beginning of special occasions. Jesus would have said it at the beginning of every Passover.

So here's some thoughts I had...

"kept us alive" - sometimes we take living for granted. God gives us each day that we have and we should use it to the fullest.

"sustained us"- God is with us through every pain. Sometimes the pain around us seems unbearable, but He is always there to bring us through.

"brought us to this season"- The author says today is a door to a new season and we must go through it. Each season in our life we are brought to by God. We must choice to move through it and live each day. Philippians 3 says forget what's behind and strain towards what lies ahead.

Lord, help us to see you in the everyday events of our lives. Help us to lean on you in the hard times and rejoice in the new seasons of our lives. Blessed be your name!