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“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” 

― Albert Einstein

Who of us is lucky enough to ever witness a true miracle? The answer is all of us. It sounds silly to say that, but it’s absolutely true. The simple fact that we are alive and breathing is a miracle in itself. Have you ever taken into consideration the complexity of our bodies and their ability to function, while we are wasting time worrying about some trivial matter?

I can say with all honesty that I take a lot of things for granted. I go to bed every night with full confidence that when I awake the sun will have risen, when in reality I have no right to just believe this will always be true. There are things hurtling through space, at this very moment, that for all I know could collide with our little blue marble and end all life as we know it. Sure, I guess it is a fairly safe bet to not expect something like that to happen. I mean, the Earth has been around for billions of years and is still spinning, as they say.

But, hopefully, you see the point that I am trying to make. There really aren’t any guarantees in life. So, does that mean that every moment we live is a miracle? What about those moments when your life is shrouded in shadows and pain? What are the moments and happenings in our lives, that can be considered a miracle? The answer is, there is no answer.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, WHAT, didn’t you just say that simply living is a miracle? And, yes, I did, but it’s only a miracle to you, if you chose to see it that way. No one can tell what to truly believe. It would be pointless to even try. Because, just as I said in an earlier post, we never really know another person and what they are actually thinking or feeling. So, we will never really and truly know what others have faith in or what they consider to be miraculous.

With that being said, I have definitely overlooked some wonderful things that have happened in my life. I wish I was able to say that I could do the same about the horrible things that had happened, as well. But, moving on, I have experienced things that really defy explanation, things that I would actually consider to be a real and true miracle.

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If you really think about it, you’ve likely had similar experiences. One example I can give was a time when I was in a very bad place. I was at a point in my life, where I was deeply contemplating ending my suffering. I was sitting on my bed, staring at the bedspread and thinking about if I wanted to go on or not. At the foot of my bed, there was a bookshelf, that held all kinds of crap, typically found in a teenage girl’s room. Some of those items were a few magazines that I had saved for some reason. They were lying flat and were in no way in danger of falling, meaning that they were pushed back on the shelf and it was almost as wide as they were. Anyway, as I sat there thinking, I heard a loud thud and out of the corner of my eye I saw something fall. It was really loud and I expected to find one of my encyclopedias on the floor, but no it was a single magazine. I walked over to pick it up and noticed it had fell open, when I bent over to pick it up, I saw that the way the pages were folded open and back, it held a strange message, you matter.

Okay, I understand if you think I’m nuts or even believe that I am lying, but it happened and stranger still, seeing this made me feel so happy that I literally burst into tears and there was a sense of peace that settled over me that felt almost as if I were being held by someone. Of course, I didn’t literally feel someone touching me, but it was more like a feeling of warmth and safety, much like you might have felt as a child, sitting on a parent’s lap. Maybe it was completely explainable. Maybe, the magazines were closer to the edge than I had thought. Maybe, the thud I heard was someone else dropping something in the next room. Maybe, the force of them dropping that object jarred the magazine off the shelf. Maybe, maybe, maybe. The truth is I don’t know if any of those things are true or not. All that I know is that at a time when I needed to hear it the most, something told me that I mattered.

Another strangely miraculous thing that happened to me was when I was 16. It was summer and school was out. I was working as a babysitter for a single mother that lived in the next town. Her aunt had taken the kids the night before, so I was to go and pick them up from her house, sometime mid-morning or before noon, because her aunt had an appointment. I had gotten up around 8:30 that morning and had taken a shower. I planned to eat breakfast, dry my hair and leave by around 9:30 or so. So, I grab some cereal and plop down in front of the TV, while I eat, to watch some morning show. I finish up and wash my bowl and spoon and then head to the bathroom to dry my hair. I plug in my trusty hairdryer and begin the task. But, for some reason my hairdryer keeps stopping. As a 16 year old girl, I had a lot of experience with hairdryers, so I had dealt with them acting similar in the past. I figure it was just the filter on the back clogged. So, I unscrew the back take out the filter and see that it’s actually pretty clean. I take an old toothbrush that was under the sink and clean it up anyway. I pop it back in and it’s still not working right.

I give up on it and figure I’ll probably just have to use some of my hard earned money to get myself a new one. I go back to the living room and begin to towel dry my hair and then find myself glued to the TV. I can’t remember what the exact topic was, but I know that it is not one that I would normally not find so interesting. I glance at the clock and see that it’s already a little after 9:30. I hop up and hurry to my room and get dressed. I then head over to my closet to grab a pair of shoes. I select one and then cannot find its mate. Usually, this wouldn’t matter, I would just grab another pair, but for some reason I HAD to find that other shoe, after searching for 10 minutes or so, I find the damn thing sitting right there, on my closet floor. So, a few other dumb things like that happened and I didn’t leave until roughly 10:15.

I live in a pretty rural area, which also boasts more than a few poultry houses or chicken houses, as we call them. I was quite accustomed to seeing the big feed trucks coming in to load the feeders, but I can’t say that I ever seen one almost tipped over across the road, but that morning as I was heading to pickup the kids, that’s exactly what I saw. I was able to turn around and there were more than a few other ways I could go, so it wasn’t a big deal. I found out later that evening from my father, that the truck had turned to tightly and somehow ran off the side of the little dirt road that lead to the houses, causing it to tilt up and almost tip over. It happened at around 9:45 that morning or so, in other words, right about the time I would have been driving through on my way to work. Would I have been in an accident if I had left when I intended? I have no idea. But, it was a weird happening none the less and something seemed determined that I not be there.

I have dozens more examples, but you get what I am trying to say. Some of them are bigger things like the ones that I outlined above and some are smaller things, like finding money in a coat pocket, that I had forgotten about, right when I really needed it or having something in life fall into place perfectly.

So, if you want to see a miracle, stop and look around or think back on your life and see how many you’ve already experienced. I’ll be the first to admit that I often don’t see all the good things that have happened, just like I have already said, I usually focus on the negative things in my life. But, I believe that I can change that, if I so desire. And, I so desire. I am tired of not seeing all the miracles and wonders of the world. So, if you are so inclined, join me. Let’s focus on the happy memories, the good things we have going for us and to hell with all the sorrow and grief!