I woke up yesterday with a deep desire to make it to yoga class. It was a beautiful day, and I imagined walking the 10 minutes each direction for a little extra centering time. As happens more than not around here, though, I was suddenly late getting out the door. Since there’s nothing worse than rushing frantically into a yoga class, I drove, feeling mildly irritated about my poor time management skills.

Yoga class was lovely, and I floated back to my car feeling calm and ready for what was ahead. And then a little magic unfolded on my three minute drive home. NPR was running a story about Hanukkah, which I know almost nothing about. A Rabbi spoke about the resonance of Hanukkah at this moment in history, and it landed for me. He explained beautifully for a beginner like me that the holiday celebrates light in darkness and went on to acknowledge that the past few years has broken all of us in different ways. And then he said so powerfully that we all have cracks from the brokenness of the world and that it’s ok because the cracks are how light from the outside gets in and light from inside each of us gets out.

What a powerful image — all of us beautifully broken, light illuminating in and out, being the change we want to see and also seeing the change we want to be. The cracks are the gift.

This holiday season, whatever each of us is celebrating, I hope this spirit guides us: only light, hope, and love in and out of those perfectly designed cracks.