“You are the God
Who performs miracles;
You display Your Power
Among the peoples.” Psalm 77:14
As I reflected about the upcoming holidays and the time to write this year’s reflection came closer and closer, all that came to me were 2 words: ‘miracle’ and ‘grace.’ Somehow, in my mind, these 2 words didn’t appear to go together, and that confused me a bit. To me, grace is something that God gives you to get you through something, and a miracle, well, that’s something you hope for, not something you need help to get through. At times, over these last weeks of contemplation, I thought that perhaps I didn’t hear God correctly…or that perhaps, He actually meant for me to write about only one of these 2 things and not both. I, of course, was wrong; God had a message. These last 18 months have been very difficult for our family, full of many ups and downs…honestly, more downs than ups at best. When we lost the mom we once knew to an aneurysm that burst and then a stroke and a slow, drawn-out recovery from the brain injury that followed, it was devastating. God taught me, for one, how to focus on the moment, and in so doing, He taught me about the many ‘wonders’ that surround us each day that go unnoticed. I wrote about these wonders last holiday season (http://dottysupdates-kgranelli.blogspot.com in one of the December blog posts).
We walked a long and uncertain path over these last 18 months…but mom is home at last with all of us! The miracle happened! It was a most difficult journey for our family to get to this point, but we made it at long last. And so, it is here with all this in mind, that I began to write this year’s reflection. I decided to trust that God had a plan when He gave me the words ‘miracle’ and ‘grace’ to chew on over these last few weeks, and He did. As always, I began by looking up the definitions of these 2 words, and that’s where God ‘wowed’ me once again!
Before I define the 2 words, let me back up a bit. At a Hanukkah party that Lenny and I attended the other night, we learned that Hanukkah is called the Feast of Dedication. Dedication, here, means to freely and openly give over to God---with arms outstretched. Our family had to do this in the first moments of the crisis we faced together…we needed to give everything over to God before we could do anything for mom. Perhaps, most importantly, we even needed to give mom over to God as well. We had to let go of our fears and trust God…trust in the fact that He Alone knew best. That He had a plan for us, even in, and despite, the circumstances surrounding us. As time went on during this journey, we learned to refocus our wishes for mom’s recovery and to turn our attention to simply making mom’s life the best it could be at any given moment. God taught us how to let go, give it all to Him, and then give His Love to someone we love.
The word ‘miracle,’ in the scripture verse at the top of this reflection, means ‘marvelous thing, wonder’ and it comes from the root word, ‘pala’ (paw-law) which means ‘to be or to make great, wonderful…(and here comes the ‘WOW’ part)…or to make difficult.’ To be or to make difficult??? Aren’t we talking about a miracle here??? Something great and wonderful and joyous?!!! The word miracle, or miracles, depending on the scripture verse, means ‘to accomplish, be busy, commit to…’ the list goes on. The point being: Miracles are hard work. Whether the miracle is performed solely by God Alone, or whether through Him, we get to take a small part in the miracle. Who knew that something wonderous also required difficult work?
Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Lights. And so, as I sat and thought about the past year and a half, and this season of miracles, another of my favorite scripture verses came to mind:
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”Isaiah 9:2
Surely, over these last 18 months, our family (and, I am sure, many of you) has walked in the darkness as well as in the shadow of death. But… we have also bore witness to seeing the “great light” that Isaiah the prophet spoke of so many years ago. Yes, we certainly have seen God’s Light manifest in so many ways over the last 18 months. God’s Light is His Life, His Character, His Strength, His Power, His Love. Indeed, God’s Light has dwelled among and in us during this journey. It is here, at this personal revelation that the word ‘grace’ made sense to me. Here, where the 2 words with such seemingly diverse meanings connected together; went hand in hand.
The menorah is the symbol of God’s Light and what keeps that light burning is oil. Oil represents God’s Holy Spirit. And God’s Holy Spirit is sometimes poured on us in the form of ‘grace’ for the moment. The word ‘grace’ means many things; among them, it means: “To bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to bestow; to lend honor to by one’s presence of manner or act; especially the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life.” Wow. I couldn’t help but think, “Isn’t this the very thing that God did for us along our journey?” God bent in His Kindness to an inferior (our family) to lend honor to us by His Awesome Presence in a manner that bestowed us with His Divine Influence upon our hearts so that we could endure this journey…this difficult miracle, if you will. Sometimes, God seems to ‘magically’ perform a miracle that changes lives forever. Other times, He allows us to take part in the making of that miracle…it is this type of miracle that presents itself at first as a difficult journey in some way or other before the joy comes. And even the time of joy itself serves to mark the beginning of yet another difficult journey forward. Our family experienced this type of miracle.
Our focus, as a family facing the past year and half’s tragedy in mom’s life, could never be about raising mom up from her illness…not in the moment anyway. God showed me that our focus was always to be about shining God’s Light brightly upon mom so that her life, no matter what the condition was, could be better…more peaceful, joyous, content, surrounded by love. By God’s Mercy as well, we just happened to experience the added bonus of seeing God’s miracle manifest in our deepest desires and wishes—mom came home again to us.
Our family has much to be grateful for this year. Only God, Himself, knows what miracle you are hoping for today. Sometimes the miracles are quick to happen. Sometimes they are not. One thing I know for certain: I have learned that miracles aren’t always easy to come by. Sometimes, miracles can lead down the road of a difficult journey, so “Don’t quit 5 minutes before the miracle happens.” I thank God that, through His Grace, we didn’t.
Wishing you and yours much joy, peace, love and the many miracles of God.
Love Kathy and Lenny
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