Before a race, a skier takes a moment to visualize herself flying down the course. Inside her mind, she feels each turn and hopes that by imagining a perfect race, she can influence her own future.
The skier’s perfect race may not follow a divine path, but thoughtful preparation influences her success.
This Chanukah, let’s close our eyes and hope that by imagining a divine course for the year, we can at least begin to bend our world in a hopeful direction.
While celebrating the miracle of one day’s oil burning for eight days, let’s imagine the miracles we wish to see in the coming year.
What exactly is a miracle? Says the American Heritage College Dictionary: “An event that seems inexplicable by the laws of nature, held to be supernatural in origin or an act of God.”
If it is our goal to act as if we are in God’s image, then our own divine behavior can catalyze what may appear to be supernatural incidents, “acts of God,” miracles around the world.
This year, while lighting the Chanukah candles, let’s envision miracles on all levels, even in areas where we feel we have no influence ourselves.
Let’s imagine peace in the Middle East, between Israelis and Palestinians, between secular and religious Jews. Let’s see peace between warring tribes in Rwanda and elsewhere in the world.
Here at home, let’s imagine our new administration working in harmony with Congress to pass legislation that will help all Americans. Let’s see a compassionate approach to homelessness and crime.
Closer to home, in our families and in our own hearts, let’s visualize the small epiphanies that allow us to love each other more fully, that let us be proud of who we are as people and as Jews, that let us touch the lives of others, that let us be the caring individuals we were meant to be before life’s sharp turns and slippery ice got the better of us. Let us realize our path.