Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of the light that lasts, the sacred lamp that kept burning long after the oil that fueled it should have been gone. This miracle of endurance happens over and over again.
When has the lamp of your own hope or joy or faith kept burning long after it would reasonably gone out?
I don’t think that’s ever happened to me. Severe anxiety and depression quench flames of hope and joy thoroughly very quickly. That said, I’ve learned to go on without them. It’s amazing how long one can keep going without hope. I suppose one could even call it a miracle of endurance.
Sometimes in my life I have endured what seemed to me to be a devastating loss. Usually this has been the result of a loving relationship that has ended. The ending of the most painful have been the ones that have been difficult to understand the reason for the ending. However I have learned that life go on, that time changes one’s perspective and that ultimately, even though there are the remaining scars of sad, painful memories, there can result understanding and acceptance and even a turn of fortune that has taught me something very valuable.