I remember the first time I met Sima, her belly was beautifully full. It stuck out, and she waddled. She came to me for a prenatal massage.

She told me her story. She was 38 and pregnant with her first child. She was so worried. Every time she went to her doctor, he scared her. They wanted to perform all kinds of exams and tests. They thought that they had found something in one of her ultrasounds that could mean that something was wrong with the baby, and they wanted to do more exams. She and her husband refused. The doctor told her, “Prepare yourself for the worst.”

I listened. I searched deep within myself for the right wisdom to tell her. My nature is to say, “Everything will be fine. Don’t worry.” But I couldn’t say that; it was neither the place nor the time to tell her such words. What did I say? Nothing. There is an expression, “Sit and don’t do.” I massaged, and I listened.

It was neither the place nor the time to tell her such wordSima came back a few weeks later. She felt different. Her shoulders were not so tense, and her forehead was more relaxed. “Sima, what is going on?” I asked her. She explained. Between our two meetings, she had gone to her rabbi. She cried her heart out to him and asked him for a blessing. She wanted him to tell her how to brace herself for the worst. She wanted him to give her advice on she should deal with the situation once the child was born. She wanted him to bless her with strength. He didn’t. You know what he told her instead? He told her that a person should not ask to be able to pass a test that they don’t even have. “How do you know that there is even anything wrong with the baby? For now, all you need to do is pray that the baby is healthy and continues to be healthy. You need to take each step as it comes, and deal only with what is right in front of you. As of now we don’t know anything, so there is no reason to worry about something that might not even be. Just pray for a healthy baby.”

Sima told me that she felt calm. His words comforted, and all she did now was pray and pray for the health of the baby.

A few weeks later the baby was born—a healthy, full-term, vibrant baby.

I want you to picture the scene. Men returned home from winning a miraculous battle against the mighty Greeks, and found our Holy Temple desecrated. They started to clean and make order. The kohanim, the priests, wanted nothing more than to perform their holy service and to light the golden menorah. They searched and searched for an unbroken flask of olive oil to light the menorah. All the flasks were broken. And then they found a flask, but only one flask, which is enough to burn for only one day. It takes eight days to make more oil; what good was just one flask?

You need to take each step as it comes, and deal only with what is right in front of youI always wonder. When the Chashmonaim found the oil, what was their first thought? Did they jump up and down for joy that they found enough oil to light for that day, or did they feel disappointed and begin to worry about the lack of oil for the next seven days? History tells us that they must have seen what they had in their hands, at that moment, and couldn’t worry about what would be the next day.

They lit the menorah, and guess what happened? (I know you know your history . . .) The next day—the oil in the menorah, it kept burning. Each day, for the next seven days, there was exactly enough oil needed for the menorah.

Each day, all eight days, they had to live in the moment and deal only with the test that was right in front of them, not the one that could be, or might possibly be, tomorrow.

This is one of the messages of Chanukah. Today I found oil to light for today—I don’t have enough for tomorrow . . . live in the present, and light the menorah. The same G‑d who takes care of you now can take care of you tomorrow. Take each moment as it comes, pray for the best, and there is no reason to expect the worst. Open your eyes and see the miracles that G‑d does for you today. Tomorrow is tomorrow.