The Miracles that Accompany Us

65.

The Miracles that Accompany Us
(Commentary on the prayer of the 'sixth B;rakhah: Gratitude for Life and its Blessing)

The prayer talks of the “miracles that accompany us each day.”  Our lives are made up moments that are quite special, at which times it is easy to express gratitude moments of great joy, the birth of a child, graduations, weddings. Recovery from life threatening illness.  But there is also the miracle of the everyday-- which, because it is commonplace, we often fail to recognize;the ability to use our limbs for what we desire, the warmth of the sun, the plants around us that sustain our breathing.  When the moon is hidden, we can see the stars in heaven more clearly.  When our lives are made up of “nothing special,” we might acknowledge how special our lives are.

But even more importantly: some of our greatest blessings initially present themselves to us concealed within disappointment, uncertainty, loss, or pain, the aspect of blessing within unfolds slowly, over time – and often only in retrospect.  We  might realize later that the job we didn't get was not appropriate for us and we were saved from a disastrous misfit; a serious illness may become a turning point in our life when we appreciate what is important for us, or it may be a moment of discovery of how much we are cherished by others.  In expressing our gratitude of Kulam ('for all these blessings”), we approach our lives with humility and faith, recognizing that with the benefit of hindsight, what seems like darkness in our lives may contain with it a blessing only later to be revealed  as a shining light.