I remember the first time I heard a poem by the great American poet Mary Oliver. I was on an interfaith retreat in the Pacific Northwest that featured a lot of contemplative silence alongside good conversation. The folks running the retreat were really into poetry because it’s so good at giving a diverse group of people like we were a focal point to share. When you read or listen to poetry, it’s different than prose: more open, more flexible, more imaginative.
Anyway, Mary Oliver, who died in 2019, was kind of the queen bee of this kind of poetry. She was especially great at taking everyday things and helping us experience what’s so amazing in them. One of my favorite poems of hers is a short one called “Praying.” Here’s how it goes:
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
There are a lot of things I love about this poem. I love the fact that she reminds us that prayer isn’t about complicated things—not about whether you can read the words in a prayerbook or whether you know all the times you’re supposed to stand up or sit down. I love that she helps us remember that this isn’t a contest—it’s not about who can do it fastest or slowest or most fluently. And I love that she invites us to remember that our sense of wonder doesn’t have to be reserved for a church or mosque or synagogue—it could be weeds in a vacant lot. The point, the opportunity, Mary Oliver reminds us, is to slow down enough to be with our own experience—and then to marvel at it.
I wanted to make sure to include this poem in our miniseries on gratitude, of which today is the fifth episode. Because sometimes it can feel like gratitude practice has to be scheduled, like going to the gym or doing DuoLingo. But even when we make a dedicated time, the most important thing is to do the most fundamental thing: to notice, to wonder, and to appreciate.
In the Torah, the entire story of the Exodus rests, among other things, on one tiny moment. Moses, who recently fled Egypt, is off in the wilderness tending sheep when he notices something: a bush that appears to be burning but, in fact, is not. Asura na et hamareh hagadol hazeh, he says, which I might translate very colloquially as, “Dude, I’ve got to check this out.” He turns aside, he checks it out, God talks to him, and the rest is history.
Aside from any historical lesson, I think the Torah is telling us something really important about noticing, gratitude, and freedom. Moses didn’t have to turn aside and look. He could just as easily have gone on his way, not making the time or the mental-spiritual space to wonder at this phenomenon in the world. When he decided to look, he didn’t know his life was about to change. He just let himself be curious. In that curiosity he found wonder, and in that wonder we all, eventually, found freedom.
Now of course, most of us aren’t going to encounter a burning bush like Moses. But that’s Mary Oliver’s point: It doesn’t have to be a burning bush. It could be weeds in a vacant lot or a few small stones. The opportunity is the same: to pause, to pay attention, and to patch together a few small words of gratitude.
So for this week, I’d like to invite you to practice this kind of noticing small, mundane things.
Whatever you’re doing right now, you don’t need to change your posture, stop walking, or close your eyes. In fact, it might better if your eyes are open.
Take in the space you’re in right now. Look around, listen, smell. And see if you can pick out one totally mundane, unremarkable object. A scuff mark on the baseboard. A crack in the pavement. A single houseplant leaf.
Not a blue iris. Just a weed or a small stone in your immediate environment.
Now, try to give that one small item your complete, undivided attention for just ten seconds.
Pretend you’ve never seen an object like this before in your entire life. Look at its texture, its color, the way light reflects off its edge.
Right now, you’re pulling a Moses: You’re turning aside to look at this thing. Now try to notice what happens when you stop rushing past it. The object itself may not have changed, but maybe you have. You chose to pay attention, and now you’ve removed a bit of the “commonness” from whatever it is you’re noticing.
Now you have an opportunity: to make this common thing into the doorway into thanks. So see if you can pull a Mary Oliver and patch a few words together. Don’t make them elaborate or poetic. No siddur or prayerbook needed. Just try to offer a tiny, genuine whisper of appreciation to the universe for this moment of quiet awareness:
“Look at that.” “Thank you for this.” “Here it is.”
Maybe let a brief silence follow those words—a silence in which another, quieter voice can finally be heard.
You don’t need to go hunting for a burning bush or waiting for a massive life event to feel wonder. Whenever you catch yourself moving on autopilot, you can pick one ordinary thing—a few small stones, a cup of tap water, the fabric of your coat—pause, turn aside, and patch together a few small words.
This small act of noticing and gratitude is where your freedom—all of our freedom—begins.
Blessings for the journey. Know that I’m on it with you.
ENDING
Thank you for joining us for Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices for Every Day, a production of Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. This episode is sponsored by Jonathan and Kori Kalafer and the Somerset Patriots: The Bridgewater, NJ-based AA Affiliate of the New York Yankees. If you like this show, subscribe, share this episode with a friend, give us five stars on Apple Podcasts. Check out our website, unpacked.media for everything Unpacked-related, and subscribe to our other podcasts, and check out the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Most importantly, be in touch–about what you heard today, what you’d like to hear more about, or to dedicate an episode. Write to me at josh@unpacked.media.
This episode was hosted by me, Rabbi Josh Feigelson. Audio was edited by Rob Pera and we’re produced by Rivky Stern. Thanks for joining us.