BUY A “MIRACLE”
EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SURI OVERHEARD her parents talking between themselves about her seven-year-old brother just being diagnosed with a brain tumor, r”l, and the cost of the recommended surgery being way beyond their budget. “The only way that we can have him healed,” said her father, “is with a miracle. We simply don’t have the means for such an expensive surgery.”
Hearing that her brother needed medical help, she immediately headed to the pharmacy. She hadn’t clarified the situation exactly, but she’d heard the urgency in her father’s voice and went to take action. The pharmacist noticed her, but was speaking with a costumer and didn’t immediately acknowledge her or assist her. Impatiently, she started banging on the counter to catch the pharmacist’s attention.
The pharmacist thus interrupted his conversation and turned to her. “Can I help you?”
“I desperately need to buy a miracle!” she asked. “Can you sell me one?”
“Sorry, dear; we don’t sell miracles!” replied the pharmacist.
“I have money, I’m not here as a joke!”
She started pulling out the money she took from her “piggybank,” which totaled to $1.11. She was willing to give all of it to buy the miracle.
Overhearing the conversation, the costumer who’d been talking with the pharmacist said to her, “I sell miracles! Where do you live?”
“I live around the corner.”
The individual headed over to her home with her and inquired of her parents what exactly was the needed “miracle”.
Her father told him about the boy’s diagnosis and the difficulties facing them. The guest told the father that for such a diagnosis, there happen to be very few surgeons in the world who can perform such a surgery. A tense quiet filled the air until he continued and said, “I happen to be one of those few neurosurgeons who can perform it!”
Seeing this family’s dire situation, the doctor comforted them by agreeing to perform the surgery, free of charge. Understandably, the family was very joyful and went ahead with it. B”H, the surgery was successful, and their son returned to full health.
There are many lessons to be learned from this story. Among them are the great care Hashem gave them. They had no one to turn to, and Hashem, as always, came to help.
But there’s an entirely different lesson that can be brought out. When one does what’s in his capacity to do, Hashem does the rest. This girl couldn’t do more than that. She did her very best by going to the pharmacy to get a “miracle,” and that’s what she got. After she did hers, the second part Hashem took care of.
