Yesterday was Tu B’shvat, which falls between Chanukah, the holiday of miracles, and Purim, the holiday that, according to Talmud, is "the end of all miracles." In other words, this is a miraculous time, which is great, because who doesn’t love a good miracle?
But unfortunately, if you’re not watching closely, you could miss a miracle, or worse, chalk one up to something mundane – like, say, coincidence, or odds. And then, because you are an ingrate, you might never get another miracle as long as you live, according to seasoned miracle-spotters, who will remind you that God only speaks if you’re listening and that you should count your blessings.
So, in hopes of filling your life with blessings too numerous to be counted, I have compiled a list of Ways to Spot a Miracle.
1. A miracle is unexpected, but never unpleasantly so. For example, a pigeon relieving itself on your hair when you’ve just stepped out of the salon does not qualify as a miracle. However, a pigeon relieving itself on a park bench, moments after you’ve risen from that park bench-now that’s a miracle.
*Note: If such a miracle happens to you, do maximize your appreciation of it by telling everyone you see for the rest of the day that you got up from that bench when you did because you "just had a bad feeling." Ill-defined "bad feelings" often portend miracles.
2. If a person seems like he might die, but then he doesn’t? Miracle.
3. If you get to a store five minutes before it closes, that’s not a miracle, but if you get to a store five minutes before it closes, and Chanukah’s about to start in an hour, and you haven’t yet gotten your niece a present, and it’s the only store in America, well. That’s got the M-word written all over it.
4. If something good happens, but you can’t figure out why it happened, feel free to call it a miracle. For example, if it rains all night before a wedding, but then clears in the morning just in time, that’s a miracle. It’s also a sign that the couple will never get a divorce.
*Note: When this type of love miracle occurs, you might overhear the phrase "meant to be."
5. Miracles are always meant to be. That’s why they’re miracles.
I hope you had a miraculous Tu B’shvat. May you never again mistake a miracle for some other thing.
Diana Spechler, author of Who By Fire, is guest blogging on Jewcy, and she’ll be here all week. Stay tuned.