Miracles

We all have beliefs that we use to sustain ourselves.  We believe that we are competent, capable and caring.  We believe that we can accomplish things, and that we will ultimately succeed.  We believe that we’re not good enough, smart enough or rich enough to matter.  We believe that success is just out of reach because we’re too fat, too lazy or too busy to make a change.

Whatever our beliefs are, we live them.  If we believe that the world is essentially a good place, filled with caring people, we will tend to find it so.  We will almost always find that one person who makes the goodness shine out.  If we believe that the world is dark and ugly, then we will find that too.  Doesn’t it make sense, then, to seek out the good in things, and to keep going back to that in difficult times?

I know that the world frowns on people who espouse a belief in God.  But for every mocking article, every negative bit of news coverage, there is another with a story of belief that is profound, and of an assurance that miracles are real.  People who believe in miracles will usually get them.  By definition (and I refer to the OED here) a miracle is:

“A remarkable event or development that brings very welcome consequences”

Isn’t that true, though?  Not every miracle raises Lazarus, parts the Red Sea or produces fire and water simultaneously.  Recovering from an illness is miraculous.  Making new friends; starting a new venture or falling in love.  I can hear my sceptical friends saying that these aren’t miracles, they’re everyday occurrences, and not all of them are good.  But if you’ve been ill, the day that you wake and find that you are healthy again, you’re leaping around in sheer joy.  (Even if figuratively.  But you get my point.)

Can you think about your beliefs as the road to seeing miracles?  If you can see the positive in any situation, then the consequences will be welcome.  I invite you to spend some time in contemplation of the daily miracles that fill your life.  Here’s a secret, too:  The more miracles you seek, the more you will find.