Praying every day

More than two years ago I made the commitment to dawn tefillin and daven Shacharit every day. Before today, I have only missed one day. That was the day we went to Israel. We had to leave our house well before dawn, so I couldn’t daven before we left, and although I really wanted to, I was not yet comfortable davening in the middle of the terminal, or on the flight (especially since the flight would arrive in Israel just as Shabbos was about to start, I didn’t want to answer questions about why someone who is davening on the plane, would travel on the Shabbos).

But today I missed Shacharit for the second time. The reason this time is even better than a trip to Israel. Today, I missed davening because my son was just born. While I may have missed formal prayer, I spent the entire day (and most of the preceding night) in informal prayer for my wife and new son. As spiritually uplifting it is to dawn tefillin, holding my baby in my arms for the first (or second, or hundredth) time brings me just as close to my Creator.