Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Not One of Those Days

"One of those days."  We have all had them.  The car won't start, a child throws up on the way to school, the dog uses your new shoe as a chew toy.  It is easy to focus on the daily frustrations of life, the things that go wrong, the tragedies on the news, the ills of the world around us all.

 But there is more than pain and frustration in our lives and we need to actively seek the moments of peace and joy.  Sometimes we need to turn off the television and the breaking news of our computer and look for those examples of God in our ordinary moments.  The Bible is full of extraordinary miracles delivered with grand gestures.  The parting of the Red Sea, Manna from Heaven, the birth of Jesus and his resurrection.  One of my PRE students once said that God doesn't perform miracles like that anymore but I disagree.  Perhaps they are not as dramatic but I see little miracles all the time.

 I never planned on having children, did not like kids.  Now I have three and they have changed my life in ways I could have never imagined.  They make me laugh with their humor, they awe me with their growing knowledge about the world around them and they bless me with hugs and kindness when I am ill or sad.  For me this is a miracle.  That God would change my very nature is a miracle. 
My husband is from Honduras and I am from Louisiana by way of Germany and several North American states.  Yet we met in south Mississippi.  That is a miracle.  My eldest child has grown out of food allergies and Epilepsy.  Another miracle.  My twins were born five weeks early with dire warnings of death, mental retardation and long hospital stays as being very real outcomes.  They are healthy, bright boys who went home with me and needed no special care while in the hospital.  God's grace in action.

But sometimes we have to look at the more mundane aspects of our lives to see God's goodness or everyday miracles.  Hitting all the green lights on the way home, catching the scent of the first rose of the season, a great test grade in a challenging class or picking up the phone only to hear the voice of a friend you met over thirty years ago.  I believe these are all miracles, examples of the goodness of God who counts the very hairs on our head.  When we look for those in our daily lives we will see even more of them.  Ordinary miracles strengthen us, they nourish our souls and they give our life joy. 

I hope this week is spent seeing those ordinary miracles around you.