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Dayenu

My Own Personal Dayenu

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Last week, I shared the Hebrew Dayenu prayer for the Passover with you. What a great prayer form it is. Each line intensifies the previous, demonstrating what an amazing God we serve who blesses us and blesses us again. In last week’s post, I promised I would post my own Dayenu this week. So here it is.

Keep in mind, this is my first attempt at anything like this. So be kind to me. It’s not going to win any poetic awards. I doubt it will go down in history as a famous prayer or ever be in anyone’s devotional prayer book. However, it was a great exercise for me. I encourage you to write your own Dayenu. It is a very practical way to count your blessings.

Unlike the Passover version I shared last week, I wrote mine speaking directly to God instead of about Him. Anyway, I hope this exercise will help me abound with thanksgiving (Colossians 2:7).

 

My Dayenu: A Prayer of Thanksgiving

If You had given me life and not created a world for me—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If You had created a world and not given me sustenance—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had sustained me and not given me clothing—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given me clothing and not given me a home—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given me a home and not given me parents—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

 

If you had given me parents and not given me a wife—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given me a wife and not given us children—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given us children and not given us health—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given us health and not given us wisdom—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given us wisdom and not given us Your Son—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

 

If you had given us Your Son and not given us forgiveness—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given us forgiveness and not adopted us—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had adopted us and not given us Your Spirit—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given us Your Spirit and not revealed Your Word through Him—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

If you had given us Your Word and not given us time to grow in it—Dayenu; it would have sufficed!

The Dayenu: A Prayer of Thanksgiving

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Thanks to Lori in Pennsylvania for putting me on to this great prayer. According to Wikipedia, it is a prayer the Jews offer as part of their Passover celebration. It is called Dayenu which essentially means “it would have sufficed.” It contains a series of statements about God’s blessings claiming each blessing would have been enough if God had only given that blessing, but He didn’t only give that blessing; He gave more.

This week I’m going to share the prayer with you. My plan is to write my own for next week. Maybe you can write one as well and share it with us in our Springboard for Your Spiritual Life.

If He had brought us out of Egypt, and not carried out judgments against them–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had carried out judgments against them, and not against their idols–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had destroyed their idols, and had not smitten their first-born–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had smitten their firstborn ,and had not given us their wealth–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had drown our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had fed us manna, and had not given us the Shabbat–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had given us the Shabbat, and had not brought us before Mount Sinai–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and had not given us the Torah–Dayenu, it would have sufficed.

If He had given us the Torah, and had not brought us into the land of Israel–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

If He had brought us into the land of Israel, and not built for us the Holy Temple–Dayenu, it would have sufficed!

What a great form and model of a thanksgiving prayer. I hope it motivates you as it does me.