The Lamp That Burned on Vinegar
When his daughter lit the Shabbos lamp with vinegar by mistake, Rebbi Chanina calmly told her that the One who makes oil burn can make vinegar burn.
It is told that one Erev Shabbos, as the light was fading, Rebbi Chanina ben Dosa saw that his daughter was sad. My daughter, he asked her, why are you sad?
She told him what had happened. She had mistaken a jug of vinegar for a jug of oil and filled the Shabbos lamp with vinegar. The flame was lit, but vinegar does not burn. Before long the lamp would go out, and the family would sit through the Shabbos night in the dark.
Rebbi Chanina was not worried at all. My daughter, he said, what does it matter to you? The One who told the oil to burn can tell the vinegar to burn.
And the lamp kept burning. It burned through the night and all through the next day, and when Shabbos ended, the family took a flame from that very lamp to light the candle for Havdalah.
For Rebbi Chanina, the order of nature was simply Hashem speaking. The same word that made oil burn yesterday could make vinegar burn today, and a sad child on Erev Shabbos deserved to hear that her mistake was no match for her Father in Heaven.
Source: Gemara, Taanis 25a (Talmud Bavli); English: The William Davidson Talmud (Koren–Steinsaltz translation), Taanis 25a.
When someone you love comes to you upset about a mistake, whether a child who broke something or a friend who missed a deadline, try answering the way Rebbi Chanina did. Before fixing anything, say something calm: This is not too big for Hashem, and we will be fine. Then, at candle lighting this Shabbos, take a moment to remember that the light in front of you burns only because He says so, and that He can just as easily light up whatever feels dark in your week.