Praying with fire

"Even when a person cannot daven with intention he must never refrain from praying in whatever way he can. Although for the present the tefillah without kavanah(intention) cannot ascend on high, when he will say a prayer with intention he will revive all the ‘empty’ tefillos, enabling them to ascend on high on the ‘coattails’ of the prayer said with kavanah.”

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, zt"l

it is upon us to praise

Aleinu was the song that Yehoshua wrote down before conquering Eretz Yisrael, it is our battle cry and we sing this song of praise to god each day.
  
L'Shalom

For everything there is a season...

I got this message a while back and want to share it today. It’s a mantra that I try to repeat to myself when I don’t understand why something is the way it is. When confronted with the ever present reality that most of life is beyond my control I pray. It’s cathartic at best and harmless at worst. Praying for others is especially difficult, looking for meaning in the answers when outcomes don’t turn out as anticipated can be especially so. But it’s important and necessary and good.

The end of the message offered only this truth: Prayers do get answered; tho I'm not sure by whom. We sometimes do not like the answers.