A Prayer for Your March

This blog was created to be yet another voice in the blogosphere to address money issues, specifically from the perspective of a middle aged mensch who has lived and worked in the Midwest his entire life.

I have numerous interests and have just barely scratched the surface of things that I want to write about and share with my readers.

One thing that I try not to be is preachy.  I am Jewish by birth but was not brought up in a religious household.  My mother grew up attending synagogue, but my father did not.  His father did not at all, having grown up without a family so to speak.  So the tradition of fathers taking sons to the synagogue stopped about a hundred years ago on my father's side, when my grandfather was a child and left to fend for himself as the Great Depression took hold.

But I was brought up to become a mensch.

My wife is not Jewish, and we have raised our children without much religion at all, mostly just revolving around the holidays as many, but not all, mixed religion married couples do.

I do attend services occasionally, and attended a three-hour-long sabbath service recently.  It was extra long because we were celebrating the fifty-year anniversary of some family friends, something that I could not miss considering that we have been friends with them for forty-three years and have shared many of life's ups and downs with them.

Three hours is a painfully long time to pay attention, even for a patient middle aged man like myself.

My maximum attention span in temple is about ninety minutes, so I spent the second ninety minutes mostly flipping through and reading the prayer books.

I came across a prayer for a new month, which I read several times.  I looked for it online, but could not locate it.  Interestingly enough, I did come across a website with a great name, AskMoses.com, but I could not even find it there.

So I am going to break from my usual writing about how to become more successful, how to make some extra money and how to think differently, and offer my prayers to you, my dear readers, so that you may begin this new month with some positive thoughts in your mind.

I do not assume that you are Jewish.  As a matter of fact, I assume that you are not.  Thus, I will not be using any Jewish references, but you will not see any Jesus references, either.  It would be very hypocritical and disingenuous for me to write praises to Jesus, when I do not do so myself.  I truly respect other religious beliefs from my own, but cannot stand it when someone assumes that theirs is the only real one or one that counts.  I do not scoff at your beliefs, though they may differ from my own.

Anyhow, enough with the build up, and allow me to share my sincere wishes for you and I and those whom we love to enjoy a happy, healthy and prosperous March of 2018.

May this month bring us well-being and blessings. Grace us, Oh God, we pray, for long life, a life of peace, goodness, blessing, sustenance, and health.

May this month, March of 2018, bring you and your loved ones a month marked by piety and free of sin; a life free from shame and reproach; a month filled with abundance and honor.

May your March of 2018 bring you happy moments to enjoy, times with good friends and family around you.  May those who you love enjoy a peaceful and healthy month. If you have pets, may they also enjoy a healthy and happy month.

Eternal God, as March of 2018 begins, wherever it is that we are, whether in the Midwest, the East, the West, the South, the North or some foreign land, remind us of the beauty that you have created for us, and of the passing of the seasons, and the preciousness of our limited time on this Earth that you have created for us.

Oh God, grant us strength to overcome adversity, and sustain us through the thirty-one days of March.  Keep us mindful of our capacity to grow and prosper.  May we be worthy of a month filled with joy, and may our spouses, offspring, siblings, friends, relatives near and far and others whom we hold dear be blessed with peace and contentment.

May we remember that we too can bless this month with our words and deeds, with dreams and achievements and with greater wisdom and strengthened resolve.

We, your children, shall greet the month of March now upon us with deepened faith and true humility.  Oh God, we pray that we be worthy of your blessings.

Amen.