Gratitude on this Shabbat

I love to pause on Friday at sundown to light the Shabbat candles, a Friday night ritual for observant Jews.  I didn’t grow up in a home where there was any religion or any rituals. (And I’m not an observant Jew.) But over the past couple of years this has become a ritual that I am in love with.

I light three candles for past, future and present (in the Jewish tradition typically only two candles are lit) from the first strike of the match on the box, I’m inviting in and I feel connected to, the mystery I’m longing for, in a holy way.  It centers me into the present and reminds me of what is important.  It’s like everything outside of me falls away and I’m here only in the energy of the moment.  Every time I light the Shabbat candles I marvel at the simplicity of this act and the holiness it inspires.

I pray the Shabbat prayer and I welcome the Holy Mother into this sacred act.  (Not a Jewish thing to do but it’s a me thing to do) I hold Holy Mother, Sophia, Shekinah, my parents, my ancestors, my angels and celestial beings who are with me, in my heart as I give thanks. It’s as if I’m uniting the past and the future and infusing it into the present.

This Shabbat I’m thinking of my gratefulness for the two courses I’m taking.

I’m grateful for Soul Vows with Janet Conner and Blogging from the Heart with Susannah Conway, I’m in love with both of them.

I’m grateful for all the amazing new bloggers/dreamers I’m meeting who are making this journey so precious.  And for those I know from previous courses.  I am grateful for their willingness to share their hearts.  In their sharing they are opening doorways into my own inner self.

I welcome you to share your own ritual, one that centers you and fills you with gratitude. Please share it and post it here.

With gratitude and blessings,

masha

© Masha Gitel Ellman 2015