It Would Have Been Enough

Dayenu is a Jewish song, traditionally sung during the Passover Seder,

that expresses gratitude for God’s many blessings.  In Hebrew, the word Dayenu translates to “it would have been enough.”  The song lists a series of divine actions during the Exodus from Egypt and proclaims that each one, on its own, would have been enough to inspire gratitude.

I became enthralled with this prayer when I watched it prayed on the television drama series The Chosen (episode four of season five).  At the beginning of the episode, while celebrating the Passover/Last Supper, the disciples recite the Dayenu.  At the end of the episode the female disciples repurpose the Dayenu in order to thank Jesus for the various ways he has worked in their lives.

Following in their footsteps, I have repurposed the structure of the Dayenu to create a prayer of gratitude for Christian women:

A Gratitude Prayer for Christian Women

If he had obeyed his mother, turning water into wine

and not fed the 5,000, plus women and children,

it would have been enough.

If he had fed the 5,000, plus women and children

and not let the children come to him,

it would have been enough.

If he had let the children come to him

and not spoken to the Samaritan woman at the well,

it would have been enough.

If he had spoken to the Samaritan woman at the well

and not healed Peter’s mother-in-law,

it would have been enough.

If he had healed Peter’s mother-in-law

and not saved the woman caught in adultery,

it would have been enough.

If he had saved the woman caught in adultery,

and not healed the woman with the hemorrhage,

it would have been enough.

If he had healed the woman with the hemorrhage

and not healed the only son of the widow from Nain,

it would have been enough.

If he had healed the only son of the widow from Nain

and not, on the Sabbath, healed the woman bent over for 18 years,

it would have been enough.

If, on the Sabbath, he had healed the woman bent over for 18 years

and not healed the Canaanite woman’s demon-possessed daughter,

it would have been enough.

If he had healed the Canaanite woman’s demon-possessed daughter

and not appeared first to Mary Magdalen at the tomb,

it would have been enough.

If he had appeared first to Mary Magdalen at the tomb

and his mother had not been present at Pentecost,

it would have been enough.