Dayenu: A Thanksgiving Thought

I am the luckiest person on the planet. I am.

Can you say this? And mean it?

If not I want to issue you a challenge: Why are you not?

If you do not feel this same way I encourage you to write down precisely why you feel – because it would all about your feelings – that you are not. My well-meaning friends often say I am blessed, not lucky, blessed being a more Biblical term. But I feel lucky every bit as much as I feel blessed.

I recently came across a Jewish Passover song, “Dayenu.” Dayenu is sung during the Passover meal. Dayenu translates: “It would have been enough.” Here is just a sampling. I have included the entire song at the end.

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

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

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

Through this song my Jewish friends are making a practice of acknowledging everything God has done for them – already done for them – and realizing it is enough – more than enough. They are seeing that at any point if the Lord had stopped blessing them, it still would have been enough. More, in fact, than they ever deserved. Anything more is just icing on the cake.

Do you feel this way? I believe if you were to make a list of all the things the Lord has done for you, in so many various aspects of your life, you would be amazed at just how blessed … lucky … you are.

My desire, my purpose is to get you into the mindset of, “After all that Jesus has done for me – everything from this point forward is just icing on the cake.”

To do this I might suggest you break this out into categories in your life such as:

Parents and the circumstances into which you were born and raised. (That would have been enough … Dayenu!)

Having a spouse and/or having children. Your Health and the health of your family.

Having a job – a roof over your head – food to eat – a car to drive. For most of you it is a nice house … good food … a nice car …. Dayenu!

Perhaps try this:

Break your life into decades: 0-10 … 10-20 … 20-30 … 30-40 … and so on.

(I tried this and it took a while just to get out of my first decade.)

For each decade look back on the blessings you received. Were you born into a family with a house and food on the table – a family that loved you and cared for you? Dayenu.

Are you able to love someone, a family, friends – and be loved in return? Dayenu. Can you walk, talk, and read this, smell the roses, laugh and cry? Dayenu. Did you go to college? Dayenu. Do you have a job? Dayenu. Do you get to travel, even a little? Dayenu.

For each decade look back at what Jesus did for you in the good times: Dayenu. Then look at the bad times, and the good he brought out of them – often even the “immeasurably, abundantly more good than you could ask for, or even imagine to ask for.”[1] Dayenu!

I am not trying to just upgrade your gratitude attitude, I am seeking to reset your entire perspective. For me, I want to not just look back and see all the Dayenu’s in my life, but to have a perspective such that I am looking forward so that I see the Dayenu’s as they come.

In fact, what I want is to live a life of Dayenu in every detail of every moment of every day. I want to see that I am already the luckiest man on the planet, and anything else is just Jesus lavishing me with more grace than I deserve. And I want to see that at any point, over all these years, Jesus could have stopped the blessings, and surely it would have been enough – way, way more than just enough.

For truly: “Jesus saved me from Hell. Everything after that is just icing!”

Dayenu!

[1] Ephesians 3:20

Dayenu

If He had brought us out from Egypt,
and had not carried out judgments against them
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had carried out judgments against them,
and not against their idols
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had destroyed their idols,
and had not smitten their first-born
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had smitten their first-born,
and had not given us their wealth
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had given us their wealth,
and had not split the sea for us
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

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

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

If He had drowned our oppressors in it,
and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

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

If He had fed us the manna,
and had not given us the Shabbat
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had given us the Shabbat,
and had not brought us before Mount Sinai
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had brought us before Mount Sinai,
and had not given us the Torah
— Dayenu, it would have been enough!

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

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

— Dayenu, it would have been enough! dayenu!