Wrapped in His Arms

I don't often speak about my personal prayer life, however today I feel like I can just write and write and write about prayer. Yesterday I spoke about the ability to go to Almighty God and ask Him a question; today, I was thinking about prayer and in that prayer the act of donning a talllit.

You may be asking, What is a tallit? Does it serve as a reminder? What does it do for your prayer life? Does it make you closer to God?

The Tallit is a four-cornered prayer shawl with specially knotted fringes, called tzitzit, worn as a reminder to live a mitzvah-centered life. The tallit is a portable spiritual home in which you can wrap yourself at home, in synagogue or when you are away on adventures and desire time for prayer, reflection or healing from a sore spot in your life. A person generally selects or receives his/her first full tallit during the process of preparation for bar or bat mitzvah. Some Jews always wear a light-weight tallit under their clothes called a tallit kattan, "little tallit" and others prefer the full shawl-style tallit for prayer and special occasions in life. 

As for what does it do for your prayer life? Well for me, it is a reminder of the ordinance that Jesus gave "go into your closet and pray." It's like I am closer to God because I have greater concentration on Him when I wear my tallit. But does it make me closer to God? Wearing a tallit when I pray doesn't make me closer to God nor does it make me more holy. 

So what does it do for me? Like all people I desire interaction. I desire human communication, touch and even the occassional hug. When I wrap that cloth around my shoulders and I stand there briefly I feel as if God himself is standing there giving me a hug. It's like He's taking all the broken pieces and putting them back together again. 

Wearing a tallit when I pray doesn't make me holy, only God's grace can do that; it doesn't mean I am closer to God than anyone else, God isn't a respector of persons. No, wearing a tallit is being wrapped in God's wings, finding shelter from the everyday storm that I am enduring, it's finding a sanctuary for just God and me to commune and no one else is allowed in that space. Wearing a tallit, is truly being in fellowship with God.