Miracles

This tea time I stood and watched the sun setting from an upstairs window. It began with delicate strips of pink on a deep blue sky. A lemon hue rose from the horizon as the pink strips deepened to salmon and then red. I know that scientists would willingly give me a factual explanation for this phenomenon but I'm no scientist. It felt as if this was a beautiful light show for my eyes only, in which case it must surely be classed as a miracle.

On Tuesday evening we will be lighting the first candle for Chanukah. This festival is about the power of light and about miracles.

As I explained in last year's post, miracles don't have to be as huge as the parting of the Red Sea. Watching my daughter heal after major surgery, seeing my grandson complete his first term at school in spite of his diabetes and all the restrictions this places on his life, meeting and sharing special time with old friends - these are the miracles that I'm talking about.

I firmly believe that it doesn't matter if we're celebrating Chanukah, Diwali, Christmas, the mid-winter solstice or a similar festival. Surely what matters is that we're all hoping for the same thing, for miracles that make our lives a little easier, for a light that illuminates our darkness.

I explained in a bit more detail what Chanukah is about in a post in 2011. You can read it here: Festival of Lights.

Give thanks for the miracles...

This week we are in the middle of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Chanukah is a time when we give thanks for the miracle that kept a light burning in the Temple for eight days, long after the oil should have been used up. This year the festival has coincided with the US Thanksgiving Day, and so today's blog is all about giving thanks... and about miracles.

I would like to give thanks for all the miracles that surround me. 

I can hear what you're saying! You're saying that miracles don't happen any more, not like they did in Biblical times. Well, that all depends on your definition of a miracle.

Charlie's favourite morning activity

For me a miracle is seeing the sun glistening on white-frost grass,

...the softness of Charlie's paw as she woke me with a stroke on my cheek,

...the way that Daughter and I often have the same thoughts.

OK, so these are not major miracles to match the great stories from the Bible but they are precious. They are things that I tend to take for granted and I shouldn't. I want to keep hold of all that awe and wonder from my childhood days.

So remove your 'taking it for granted' glasses, look around you and tell me what events of awe and wonder you can see.

I got the idea for this blog post while I was reading Inger's blog this morning. She is one of those lovely bloggers who I've got to know so well through exchanging blog comments. She lives in California and her blog is called Desert Canyon Living. Thanks Inger.