Miracles, small size
The word miracle comes from the Latin miraculum, which means something wonderful. Nothing about walking on water or voices from the clouds. Just something wonderful.
The dictionary is stricter. A miracle, it says, is an event that cannot be explained. I prefer the Latin.
Sizes
Miracles do not come in one size. Some people like theirs big and audacious, like their goals: double foam, extra shots. Some arrive soft, like a summer breeze. Others are loud and a little crazy and have Jimmy Page playing guitar in the background.
I like mine on the skinny side. Non fat, no foam.
Years ago I wrote that I see miracles everywhere, every day, and that mine tended to come with sparkles and fairy dust. I also wrote that it had not come easily. It took a good deal of looking inward before I could see them at all.
Most of it is a shift in how you look at things. The job you lost may have been one in disguise, because it gave you back your time and the room to find work that makes your heart sing. St Augustine put it well a very long time ago: "Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature."
My small ones
When the children were young I made a list of mine. Spenser writing a song on our deck, just her and her guitar. Jack, happy because he had found new friends at a new school. Grayson spending endless summer days pulling sailboats along the shore of Georgian Bay. My family and my friends. Waking up and being given one more day.
None of it would have made the news. Every one of them was a wonder to me.
Do you think you deserve one?
A lot of people have written down what they want and then waited for it to arrive. I think there is a step missing. You can want something very much and still not quite believe you deserve it. If somewhere in your head the answer is "why me, when so many people need one more?", the miracle has nowhere to land.
Everybody deserves one. There are plenty to go around.
If you would like somewhere to start, try these.
- What are you hoping for? A good relationship, perhaps, or a peaceful mind. Be clear about the end and leave the how alone for now. Think about how it would feel to have it.
- Can you stay on its side? Most of us have been trained to doubt what we ask for. Notice the doubting thoughts when they come and keep them to a minimum if you can.
- What is your intention? Spend a few minutes each day picturing what your life would look like, sound like, even smell like. Meditation helps. So does sitting quietly before the day starts.
Noticing
A miracle can be as small as a smile or a hug, or as big as the sunrise. The trick is to notice your life in detail. A flower. The size of the sky. The sound a hummingbird makes. A girl with a guitar on the deck.
After 50 there is usually more time to notice. Spend some of it that way.
From the archive. First written for my journal years ago, and rewritten for life after 50.
