By Abraham Joshua Heschel

The secret of spiritual living is the power to praise. Praise is the harvest of love. Praise precedes faith. First we sing, then we believe. 

The fundamental issue is not faith but sensitivity and praise, being ready for faith. To be overtaken with the awe of God is not to entertain a feeling, but to share in a spirit that permeates all being…We praise with the pebbles on the road which are like petrified amazement, with all the flowers and trees which look as if hypnotized in silent devotion. 

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century.