A Day Of Miracles

Miracles.

Have you ever experienced one? Think back on your day, to the moment when you first opened your eyes. Was that perhaps a miracle? Think about so many things we take for granted, like mobility, hearing, cognition etc. Are these things just natural? Or are they Divine gifts that should make our hearts swell with gratitude?
Imagine you saw these ‘normal’ things as gifts from your Infinite Parent, G-d? How do precious gifts make you feel? Grateful? Now imagine that feeling as backdrop to your day.

Every life follows a path with twists and turns. Every day, some things go right and some things don’t. Feeling appreciative for life helps us notice – and savor - the good. It frames our life journey – in its totality - as a blessing. With that perspective, the day’s aggravating bumps take on a different, more manageable, context. They become lessons, exercises in self-betterment, tests of character.
(I don’t mean to diminish the pain of our individual problems; on the contrary, I pray that G-d give us all tranquility and revealed good. But – until then – we need to find a productive way to deal with our inevitable scrapes).
This is the powerful lesson of Purim, the Holiday which we’ll celebrate next Thursday evening (the 25^th) and Friday (the 26^th).
We have Holidays like Passover, which celebrates the open miracles we experienced in the course of our Exodus from Egypt. In our lives, that corresponds to the ‘over the top’ moments of good fortune we may experience in the course of our days.

Purim is different. There is no blockbuster miracle to celebrate, just events that seem to turn out right. Looking at the Megillah, it could appear that the Jewish people had the right person (Queen Esther) in the right place (the palace) at the right time (when Haman’s evil plan was being fomented). Good fortune, but nothing more.

But that’s not how the Jews saw it. When things turned out right, they had the vision to see it as a miracle. And Purim was born. 
In the scope of your life, the ‘Passover miracles’ will probably be few and far between. Most of your life will be like today, a ‘regular’ day with nothing ‘special’ to celebrate. Unless you choose to celebrate ‘natural miracles’. Because, rest assured if you’re reading this, you’ve had some ‘miracles’ today. 
So, in fact, Purim teaches us that every day’s a Holiday.

Something to celebrate!