Thanking God for our Bodies

Last Sunday I did a short teaching during tefillah for the 3rd-5th graders on a prayer called 'Asher Yatzar.'  More popularly known as the "bathroom blessing," Asher Yatzar is a prayer we say at the beginning of morning services when we thank God that our bodies are more-or-less working.  I noted that when you think about the thousands (maybe millions?) of things that have to work JUST SO in order for us to be alive, much less functioning well, it's really miraculous!

Unfortunately I've been sick for most of the past week.  I have a bad cold that I can't seem to shake.  I've been thinking about Asher yatzar, realizing that when even just a few small things go 'wrong' with our physical health, it can make us feel pretty miserable.  And all the more so when there's something bigger that's not functioning properly...

So why is this prayer sometimes called the "Bathroom Blessing"?  There's a Jewish custom of saying 100 blessings a day, and one of the ways we can get up to 100 blessings is by saying one every time we go to the bathroom.  The prayer Asher Yatzar thanks God that the things in our bodies that are supposed to be open are actually open, and the things that are closed are actually closed.  How true that is when we use the bathroom - we are grateful when the 'plumbing' works correctly!  So the custom is to use the bathroom and then say the blessing to remember that even something as simple and mundane as going to the bathroom is a miraculous gift, indeed, could be seen as a gift from God. 

Without further ado, here's the prayer, as seen in our prayerbook Mishkan Tefillah... (feel free to print it for use at home!):