Do You Believe in Miracles?

So a brief historical recap:

Chanukah happened in the year 164 BCE. There were actually 3 separate miracles in this story.

After being religiously oppressed for many years, a small group of untrained Jewish guys went up against the world's strongest fighting force...and won! Miracle 1. When they came back to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, it was in shambles and there was no pure oil to light the ceremonial menorah. And they found one. Miracle 2. Finally, the oil was only supposed to last for 1 day and lasted for 8 days. Miracle 3.

Let's party.

To me, one of the most important lessons of chanukah is to redefine the term miracle.

Some miracles are obviously beyond nature (oil lasting 8 days).

Some can be seen as a culmination of a lot of different variables and we can be convinced that they are just a great event (Tebow-or winning a war).

And sometimes it is a good old coincidence.

But Chanukah teaches us that each and every one of our day-to-day lives is really a miracle.

That we got up in the morning and our body continues to function, that the sun came up in the east, that children are born and that all the other pieces keep on falling in place.

Each one in its own right is a miracle.

We get excited when we see the big fancy miracles like a cancer disappearing or surviving a brutal car accident without a scratch (Big Time Miracles).

Of course we thank G-d and offer praise when children are born and a car swerves and avoids us (Smallish Miracles). And we are happy when we find something that is lost or make a good business deal or even when the wound heals (Explainable, coincidental events). But Chanukah reminds us that really EVERY event is a miracle. G-d is present in all our lives in every detail and we just have to pay attention to all the miracles that He blesses us with.