By JanetheWriter
In an article in this week's Science Times Michael Bicks recounts the tale of his recent heart attack and how his decision to go straight to the hospital has enabled him to say, "I get to hug my wife and my kids, understand how wonderful my friends are and realize exactly how much I love my life."

Amidst the hassles and demands of everyday living--the missed buses and missed deadlines, the packed lunches left sitting on the kitchen counter, the unrelenting phone calls and emails, the spilled coffee, the winding line in the grocery store--it's too easy to lose sight of the wonders and richness of hugging our spouse, valuing our friends and loving our life.

Lucky for us, our tradition's liturgy provides us with a daily opportunity to focus on the wonders of life--the daily miracles--and to remember that they are what's really important.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't attend a morning minyan.  In fact, I hardly ever attend services.   But when I do, I try to let the liturgy speak to me, to listen to it, and to act upon what it has to say. 

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who has given the mind the ability to distinguish day from night.  Look out the window. Relish the pinks and oranges and greens and blues of the sun as it creeps over the East River and spreads across the dusky sky.  Enjoy the colors of the new day.  Appreciate the potential that it holds. 

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who opens the eyes of the blind.  Look around and see what's in front of you.  The fluffy hydrangeas abloom in the garden, the blue-green shimmer of the pigeon's wing as the bird pecks at a pizza crust tossed in the gutter, the diverse and colorful stream of rushing New Yorkers, each created b'tzelem Elohim with something special to offer the world.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who frees the captive.  Try not to be a prisoner to the known, to the familiar, to a particular "truth."  Take a chance on something new.  Climb the alpine tower.  Venture to Coney Island on the D train.  Just because that woman at the bus stop has tattoo-covered arms and pierced eyebrows, she isn't necessarily a sleaze bag.  Smile at the cute guy in the elevator.  Download an unfamiliar song to the ipod.  Be open to new possibilities.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who lifts up the fallen.  Buy street flowers for the friend who just got dumped.  Drop the loose change from the flowers into the ratty paper cup of the guy on the corner or into the tzedakah box in the elevator lobby at the office. 

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who stretches the earth over the waters.  Revel in the soft grass and quiet shade of the garden on a lazy Sunday, the sun-warmed water of Laurie, Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and the memory of last summer's glassy green Mediterranean.  Use a reusable water bottle, compact fluorescent light bulbs and canvas grocery bags.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who strengthens our steps.  Yesterday, I passed a young woman using crutches because she had only one leg.  Thank you, God, for two strong legs, for a healthy heart and bones, for iron-rich blood and for making them all work together. 

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who clothes the naked.  As much as I dislike the shopping scene, I am grateful, of course, to have warm clothes in the winter and cool clothes in the summer.  Let me make purchasing choices that help ensure that others are not exploited by the processes that bring shoes, clothing and other goods to our stores.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who gives strength to the weary.  Even when I'm overwhelmed at work, lacking responses from jdaters, or annoyed with a friend, let me still remember how lucky I am to have this life and the people in it.  It is a good life indeed.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who removes sleep from the eyes, slumber from the eyelids.  When it's time to leave this life, I want to drift away into an endless sleep.  For now, though--and for a long time to come--I am grateful to awake each day to health and strength, to friends and family, to a rich, full and meaningful existence.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who made me in the image of God.  Let me use the gifts that I have been given, together with God and in some small way, to make my little corner of the world a better place.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who has made me free.  In all realms--as an American, a Reform Jew and an individual--I am free.  As I savor this accident of birth, let me remember that others--women in abusive relationships, political prisoners, Third World laborers and countless others--are not free.  Until they are free, none of us is free.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who has made me a Jew.  Last summer, I attended mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral with a friend who was in New York from out-of-town.  My visit in church reinforced how grateful I am to be she-asani Yisrael, to have been created with a pure soul, and to truly understand what a wonderful number is echad.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who girds Israel with strength.  In fields from science and literature to sports, politics and entertainment, countless Jews have girded Israel with strength--Paul Ehrlich, Selman Waksman, Nadine Gordimer, Sandy Koufax, Saul Bellow, Arlen Specter, Joseph Lieberman, Gilda Radner, William Shatner...the list goes on.  Both known and unknown, we enrich the world, and I am proud to be among the people Israel.

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, who crowns Israel with splendor.  In big ways and small, may Israel continue to be a light unto the nations and may all her people--whatever their lot--comport themselves with a healthy dose of menschlichkeit and find joy in the daily wonders and richness of hugging our spouse, valuing our friends and loving our life. 

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