"Coincidence is God's Way of Remaining Anonymous"

Tonight is the last night of Chanukah.  Our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate the miracle of one days  oil that did not run out for 8 days.  The miracle is viewed as one lasting 8 days.  Even the first day some say is a miracle, as it took a miracle of faith for the candle to be lit with the knowledge there was not enough oil for all eight days.  Last night, my husband read to our family a wonderful reflection from a Rabbi, one that spoke of coincidences and miracles.

"There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle." (Albert Einstein)

There must have been a time when you entered a room and met someone and after a while you understood that unknown to either of you there was a reason you had met.  You had changed the other or the other had changed you.  By some word or deed or just by your presence the errand had been completed.  Then perhaps you were a little bewildered or humbled and grateful.  And it was over.

Each lifetime is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  For some there are more pieces.  For others the puzzle is more difficult to assemble.  Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle.  And so it goes.  Souls going this way and that trying to assemble the myriad parts. 

But know this.  No one has within themselves all the pieces to their puzzle.  Like before the days when they'd seal jigsaw puzzles in cellophane insuring that all the pieces were there.  Everyone carries with them at least one and probably many pieces to someone else's puzzle.  Sometimes they know it,  sometimes they don't.  

And when you present your piece which is worthless to you to another, whether you know it or not.  Whether they know it or not, you are a messenger from the Most High. Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

Hearing this reflection last night so much of it rang true.  It has been my humble experience that the further one goes in prayer the more frequent these coincidences seem to become.  And likewise, the more people one meets that seem to have one of the pieces to your puzzle.  With this realization, a great deal of joy comes.  It may also be that it is through prayer that one sees these coincidences more clearly and recognizes them as being guided by God. Tonight, on Gaudete Sunday, may we indeed "Rejoice in the Lord always". (Phil 4:4-7) Our God is indeed close and very active in our lives.