MIRACLES & HAPPENSTANCES

Photo: "Liam and the Sea" or "A Million Miracles"
Photo taken by spousal unit
Photo framed and named by Skitch

NOW:



The spousal unit believes that miracles are things that science cannot explain. I believe that science is a miracle.

The way I see it you either look at this world and you buy into the idea that it's a creation and therefore there is a Creator or you by into the idea that one happenstance after another occurred to create this multi-verse, our solar system, our sun, our planet, energy, Life, water, soil, nutrients, plants, animals, humans, all our functioning organs including our incredible brains and our marvelous immune systems, our emotions, our sense of self, and more. Each of these holds coincidence after coincidence, if you go with the idea that it just "happened". I don't know about you but I find that harder to swallow than the idea of a Creator. I think one coincidence after another would be more of a miracle than one Higher Being, and I have never known of anything creating itself, or of something being created from nothing. But I do think that either way you slice it you're looking at miracles. Life is a miracle. Love is a miracle. Every drop off water in the sea, each speck of light in a sunset, every human on Earth is a miracle. A bee is a miracle, and so are his wings, and the pollen on his legs, loads of little miracles inside little miracles.

I was deep in thought about miracles the other day; I was counting mine. I don't just count blessings, I count miracles. I was born with my navel cord around my neck it is a miracle I survived. When I was a baby my father left a coal mine just prior to it collapsing because (he remains convinced) I came into it and kissed him with my little baby kisses. My father was told by a doctor that he would not live to see his children grown and now he has lived to see many great grandchildren. Soon he may have a great great grandchild because he has great grandchildren that are adults in loving relationships. My oldest sister was told by doctors that she would be in a wheelchair by the time she was 30 years old. She is 58 years old now and still getting around on her own steam. The very night that I prayed to God and told him I was ready for a baby, I became pregnant. A few weeks later I prayed to God that my morning sickness go away and it did. My father once had bleeding ulcers. He fell over in the bathroom and blood gushed out of his mouth. The doctors put a light down in his stomach and saw multiple bleeding ulcers. They had to give him several units of blood to replace what he had lost. My sister told the whole family that night, "We are praying for a miracle- nothing less." The next day the doctors at the bigger hospital Dad had been transferred to for surgery put another light into his stomach and there were no ulcers to be found. Just recently, my father was told that he had Macular Degeneration, that nothing could be done to improve his sight, and that he would not be able to continue driving. After a few months of prayer, Dad went and renewed his driver's license. When he went back to the eye doctor shortly after that, the doctor checked Dad's eyes, checked Dad's records, checked Dad's eyes again and said, "You DID have that! I remember!" My dad is still driving.

I was thinking of all these and many other miracles that I have seen.  And I prayed to God about the people that do not love me that I feel really should love me because I love them so much, and I strive so hard to be good to them. I told God that I was tired of feeling so alone in my pain, of being unloved, ignored, sad. I prayed for a miracle - nothing less.

The next morning my sister called me. She has not called me in ages. We see each other at my mothers and I sometimes call her, but this was the first time she had called me in months upon months. She told me that I have been on her mind and that she had a dream about me. She encouraged me to continue loving people and doing all the good that I can do. She talked to me about God and being patient for miracles. She reminded me of the very miracle of my father's bleeding ulcers that I had thought of the day before. She told me we must be patient and wait for our miracle. But I knew that she and her words of encouragement and kindness WERE my miracle. I was not alone in my pain. My miracle had arrived. Others would follow.

That evening I received a short note from one of the people that I love and miss so very much. There were several photos attached. That was my second miracle when I had asked for only one.

If you believe in Happenstance then nothing is a miracle but everything is unbelievable. You are setting aside and honoring the idea of happenstances stacked on coincidences stacked on happenstances. To me, nothing is less believable than that.

If you believe in God then everything is a miracle and everything is believable. I believe in God and I believe in miracles. I think that sometimes they come in surprising forms. Still, if you believe in God and you believe in miracles, you will see them. Keep your eyes open, watch for your miracles, and do not buy into the God of Happenstance!