On December 1, the National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) members began a month of daily posting on the theme of MITZVAH. My first post for that was on the meaning of “Mitzvah.” In that post, I talked about watching boys going through their Bar Mitzvah at the Wailing Wall (or West Wall) of the old Temple in Jerusalem.

Above is a photo a colleague took of me standing at the Wall, offering up my prayers. You can tell I’m the tourist by the backpack!

It is said that prayers written on a tiny piece of paper, folded, then stuck into a crack in the wall, are received and answered by the Almighty. If you want to know the origin of this, read this.

Every faith has some form of prayer. Even those without a faith are praying, when they say silently (or aloud), “I hope I pass this test.” I believe that any desire or need is received and acted upon. Words that are commonly used for the receiver are God, Holy Spirit, Higher Power, Allah, Great Spirit, Universe, Almighty, Energy Flow, and so many more. Regardless of the word we use, the meaning is the same.

To me, prayer is not so much what we are asking for, but listening to what we are to do. It is when I stop the “asking” that I begin “hearing.” Someone once reminded me that the answers are either “yes” or “wait, because I have something better in mind for you.”

When I’m working on the lava field that is my home, I am listening. When I stood at the Wailing Wall, I was listening. When I stand before my classes, I hear. Every sound in nature is telling me something. Every word uttered by another person is the answer to a prayer, whether I recognize it as that or not.

If more of us listened before we spoke, it might be a better and more peaceful world.

A hui hou!