Dayenu: A Post-Thanksgiving and Pre-Christmas Thought

“Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.” Fred De Witt Van Amburgh 

There is a wonderful Jewish Passover song that is sung during the Passover meal, called “Dayenu.” 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 acknowledging that if the Lord had stopped blessing them at any point, 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 Jesus has done for you, in so many various aspects of your life, you would be amazed, and indeed humbled, at just how blessed you are.

I often think about my salvation: that Jesus saved a wretch like me, on the fast track to Hell, for eternity. After that, Jesus should have put me in a corner and had someone beat me with a plastic bat for the rest of my days on earth. That would have been Dayenu. But he didn’t. He continued to pour out his love and compassion and ongoing forgiveness. Dayenu!

My desire, my purpose is to get you into the mindset of, “After all that Jesus has already done for me – everything from this point forward is just icing on the cake.” To do this I might suggest you think in terms of:

I am made in the image of God the Father (which would include the image of Jesus). Whatever that may mean to you – Dayenu!

Parents and the circumstances into which you were born and raised. Dayenu!

Your spouse – children – your Health – the health of your family.

Or if not any of these, you have Jesus. Dayenu!

Having a job – a house – food to eat – a car to drive. For most of you this includes a nice house … good food … a nice car. Dayenu!

Or perhaps try this:

Break your life into decades: 0-10 … 10-20 … 20-30 … 30-40 … 50-60 and so on.

1. What are you thankful for?
2. What things … gifts … in your life could you not have achieved on your own?
3. What things/gifts in your life do you not deserve?
4. What things/gifts from the Father have surprised you as to their joyfulness?

Dayenu!

I am not trying to just upgrade your gratitude attitude; I am seeking to reset your entire perspective. I want to not just look back and see all the Dayenu’s in my life, but as I look around today, and even look forward, I want to see the Dayenu’s today, and those that will surely 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, most blessed man on the planet, and anything else is just Jesus lavishing me with more grace and more blessings than I deserve.

During the holidays, and then every day of the year, may you learn to Dayenu often and Dayenu with great joy. Dayenu!

¹Ephesians 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!

dayeinu!