Invitation for Everyday Miracles

Shortly after my brother, Brian, and his wife had their first child, he said something to me that really captured what parenthood is like.  This was before I had embarked on that journey myself.  He said that having a child made you feel like you had just accomplished the world's greatest feat, that you had partaken of a miracle and yet, it was odd to consider that childbirth and childrearing had been taking place for thousands of years, that everyone that was and is, had been borne by someone.  Still, you could not help but marvel at your involvement of bringing new life into this world.

It has been my joy to carry three separate lives within my own and each time I have found myself in awe of it.  Women often like to share pregnancy and labor stories like men gloat over battle wounds.  In the end, when that little life begins with it's first independent breath from the body that carried and nurtured it for so long, it is victory that we feel.

And yet, why?

Why glory in something that is experienced by so many- every nation, every race, every religion, every generation for thousands of years?  What do we find special in bringing one tiny life into the midst of the billions already in existence?  How do we continue to stand in awe of something that is routinely taking place thousands of times in hospitals and homes across this world, even as I type this message?

Somewhere along the way, we have convinced ourselves that miracles are a rarity.  It seems that miracles can only exist outside of the norm or we deem them too "normal" to be miraculous.  We choose words such as "coincidence" or "luck," even "accident," to describe miraculous events, so as not to sound extravagant.  And when we toss out the cliche "the miracle of birth," we don't actually mean it.  How often do we take the time to truly consider the process of reproducing life?  For those that have struggled with conception, they know how difficult, and yes, miraculous, each new life is.

It only occurred to me with the birth of Julia what an opportunity pregnancy is.  It is an invitation from God to participate in an everyday miracle.  And He is offering this invite everyday to each of us, not just in the form of reproduction, but in the way we lead our life.  For Him, miracles are His way of life.  They are the norm.  They are routine.  But they are still miraculous!

Consider the disciples and the crowds that followed Jesus when He walked this earth.  They expected nothing less of Him than miracles.  Should we not expect the same?  Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  But we allow monotony and routine to cloud our judgement about God's hand in our everyday life.  He is constantly working through us to bring about His miraculous plan of opening hearts to the love and grace He offers.

I believe that there are miracles happening everyday with the coffee you spilled on your pants right before you needed to leave for work, the conversation you have with the random person in the grocery store, the item you dropped off at the Salvation Army, a positive post you place on Facebook.  We do not always see the timing that God is working out, the seed that He is planting, the gift that He is offering, through our everyday routine, but I believe that He is always working through us.  And I believe when we start opening our hearts up to Him, we start recognizing the miracles in the small things.

The truth is every life is a miracle, but that miracle doesn't end at birth.  God works everyday miracles in each of our lives when we choose to recognize it and credit Him for it.  Working with the God of the Universe on an everyday, routine basis... now that's pretty miraculous!