Miracle

As you prepare for the Yom Tov of Chanukah, a day when every Jew celebrates the miracles of the past and the miracles of the present, you may wonder...What miracles am I experiencing in my life? I just go about my schedule and nothing earth shattering is going on in my life. What am I celebrating? What miracles am I thanking Hashem for?...Just remember this: "If you don't believe in miracles, perhaps you've forgotten you are one."

I'm polishing the menorah.

My little Moishy wants to watch me do it. He brings over a chair and stands next to me so he can see how I scrub the menorah until it shines and sparkles.

He wants to understand how it works.

Of course, my little boy wants to touch everything so he can get a better understanding of how it works. If he feels it, he experiences it on another level. So he reaches over to stick his fingers into the silver polish.

I stop him immediately...before his little fingers get close enough.

"Don't touch it, Moishy! That's a chemical. It's not safe for you to touch."

He hears the word chemical and he backs down.

But he wants to feel it.

So...he tries to smell it and again I stop him (not fast enough though :)).

"Eww! It doesn't smell good, Mommy," he tells me.

I know that. And I tell him. I explain...

This is not a safe thing for us. We should not touch it, taste it or smell it.

And I think about how amazing that is. It's amazing that it smells very unpleasant...so that we should know not to take it one step further. Don't touch, don't let these chemicals inside your body, protect yourself.

And I tell him...

Isn't it amazing that Hashem created our bodies to be able to smell things that are dangerous? Isn't it incredible that those dangerous things have an unpleasant smell? And things that are edible and are healthy for us to ingest look and smell appetizing?

Is that not something to marvel at?

You are a miracle. Never forget that.