There’s nobody in the world who doesn’t have a lot to feel thankful about. Our families, our friends, our health, even just being alive, are all reasons to celebrate and feel grateful to God.

Yet it can happen that we forget to look at things this way and begin to take the good things in our lives for granted. Sometimes we even begin to focus more on what we don’t have than what we do.

In this week’s Torah portion we learn about the Korban Todah, the special offering that a Jew would bring to the Tabernacle to express thanks to God for the good things that had happened to him.

We can learn from this how worthwhile it is to develop gratitude and be thankful for all of the good in our own lives.

In our story, a girl learns from her friend a precious lesson in how to be thankful for what she has.

A Closer Look

We had all been pulling for Suzie. It had been six long weeks since she had had her eye operation. That whole time she had to go around with patches on her eyes. Although she tried to be strong, it was next to impossible for her and all of us, her friends, not to be nervous since the doctors said that even after the operation there was no telling whether she would ever be able to see again.

Now finally the day came where Suzie would take off the eye patches. I’ll never forget how I felt that afternoon in the waiting room. Suzie, her mom and dad, and the doctor were all in his office. A bunch of us kids had tagged along hoping to celebrate the good news or at least be there for her if… I didn’t even want to think about it.

“They seem to be in there forever,” I thought as I nervously leafed through every magazine in the waiting room. “Hey, they’re opening the door. I hear a lot of noise but is it laughing or crying?”

Finally they came out. We all looked at Suzie and held our breath. Suddenly she fell into our arms. “Thank God, I can see all of you!” she said through tears of joy.

The sight of our good friend looking us right in the eye was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.

A few days later I got a phone call. “Hi Sherry, it’s Suzie,” she said as if I didn’t recognize her voice.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Well,” she said. “As you know this is a big, big miracle. So I’m making a party for all of us to celebrate our miracles.”

“Don’t you mean your miracle?” I asked.

Suzie laughed. “You know, just because I was wearing eye patches doesn’t mean I forgot how to talk!” she joked. “You agree that it’s worth celebrating that I can see, isn’t it?”

“I’ll say!” I gasped. “I can’t think of a better reason to throw a party!”

“Well,” said Suzie, “you can also see.”

It doesn’t happen often, but this time she left me speechless.

“Is it any less of a miracle, any less worth celebrating, that you and all the guys are able to see? While I was recuperating, I learned a lot of fascinating stuff about how the human eye works. You wouldn’t believe how amazing it is. We should really throw a party each time we open our eyes!”

“Yeah,” I said, “but you especially have something to be grateful about because you had to have an operation and everything, and now you can see again…”

She cut me off. “The way I look at it, as grateful as I am, you should be even more grateful since you’re able to see even without having to go through an operation.”

I thought about what she was saying. “You know Suzie,” I told her, “you’re really right. I’ll be happy to come to our party.”

After we hung up I realized how lucky I was to have a friend who, with eye patches or without, was able to see things that most of us can’t.

Nesanel Yoel Safran is a writer, chef, and a teacher/student of Jewish spirituality. He blends these assorted vocations on his blog, Soul Foodie, where you can join him on mystical cooking adventures and glean practical wisdom for the kitchen – and for living. https://soulfoodiecom.wordpress.com/