Present Day Miracles!
By: A.R. Schaffer
© 2000
The picture above is of the sun, taken from The Sun Today
website. In our everyday lives most of
us never think about the processes going on in that magnificent star. We just take it for granted that the sun
will continue to shine, as well as all the other natural processes that give us
life. Because we experience things
every day, we see them as ordinary, completely natural, and we give it little
thought.
In most religious ideologies, events like the burning of the sun and
those countless other everyday happenings that make life possible are not
pointed to as miraculous events. They
take a back seat to tales of supernatural happenings such as parting of seas,
bread from heaven, or burning bushes.
Too often, faith has us looking beyond the real world for any proof of
God, causing us to miss the wonder, awe and power of God in our everyday lives.
Look at that picture above and think of the power generated hour after
hour; day after day; century after century.
A star that produces enough energy to heat the earth at a distance of
93,000,000 miles away. A celestial body
of fire thousands of times the size of the earth that has burned for eons. And, that sun is but one of millions,
perhaps billions, of stars that radiate massive amounts of energy throughout
the universe.
And think about the fact, that the third planet around that sun circles
it at just the right distance, for not only life to have evolved, but life
forms that can comprehend and understand the workings of that very sun. The planet spins on its axis, day after
day, allowing the sun to distribute its energy
gently and evenly. That planet
has filters in its atmosphere which filter out the dangerous rays of that star
and allow the life giving energy to make its way over the face of the globe.
All this happens in the vastness of a universe that is ever moving, ever
changing, and ever expanding! What
miracles written in our ancient text are any more spectacular than these events
we witness every day? And while we may
understand some of the how these things work, no one can explain why they work
that way!
And, think about this world that sun shines upon. A world that is teaming with life from its
lush temperate zones, to its freezing polar caps, to its arid and hot
deserts. Life so small we cannot even
see it, to that of immense size such as the whale or a redwood tree. Microbes, insects, plants, animals --- all sharing this world, each contributing to
its survival in its own way. All these
things serving a purpose!
And then there is
human life, a truly wonderful miracle of biology. Human beings who can comprehend and understand what goes on
around them. Beings that can create and
think. Beings who often are able to
understand the “how” things work, but only in faith can they know “why” they
work. Beings who can communicate, love and share with one another. Beings that seem to exist for no particular
reason but to comprehend the wondrous reality around them! Being who can articulate the very existence
of a God.
Ironically it is here
that we often fail. We look for God’s
handiwork in our stories and myths. We
place our faith and hope in a world to come.
We lose sight of the power of God; because we fail to look and see the
wonders of His/Her hand that surround us.
Religion misguides us when it has us searching for God’s miracles in
some supernatural faith. Such faith is
misplaced, as it causes us to fail to see that God’s miracles are rather
commonplace, and often subtle.
Even healings fall
into his category. We have wonderful
medicines, doctors who can cure many illnesses because God has empowered us
with a mind where we can understand these things --- yet we pray for
supernatural cures. We sometimes look
to men to lay hands on us and heal us through the power of God; but what is the
mind of a doctor if not the power of God in reality? Is it not truly a miracle that we can manufacture drugs, perform
surgery, and nurse each other back to health?
Life is the miracle my
friend. The experience of the living of
it and all of the reality that surrounds its existence are far more miraculous
than the parting of a sea! It is the
“something”, where there should be “nothing” that should be seen as the true
miracle. It is the kindness that one
human being can show to another, the love we can exchange, and our ability to
think and reason for ourselves --- these are miracles we all experience and are
the miracles that we should be giving thanks for. Too often people are looking for God to give them signs, but
God’s power and presence is visible all around us --- all we need do is think
about it! Science often talks about the
laws of physics, but who wrote them?
Why are they laws? How is it
they work that way? Do these laws not
indicate intelligence and power behind them?
Why is it people look
so hard for more, when God has already given so much? Why do we need to look beyond reality to substantiate faith? Is it not greed to ask God for anything
more, when He/She has already given so much?
We talk about eternal life and proclaim how great that will be, but what
about the miracle of life in the here and now, the fact you can breathe, read
this page, and think about all the things we have just discussed! To recognize that life is eternity as we are
experiencing it in the now is to know that we are part of some glorious
plan. And if God gave us nothing else
beyond this life; is that not in itself enough to be thankful for?
Open your eyes and
look around you, my friend, and you will see miracles galore --- From the birds
that fly so gracefully through the air to the rose that blooms with both beauty
and fragrance. The miracle of a sun
that continues to shine and the earth that gives us life. Miracles are in the rains that replenish our
water supplies and in the fields of wheat that provide us with food. We too perform God’s miracles, every time
our hearts are moved to reach out and help someone that may be unable to help
themselves. There are miracles in our
sharing, in our knowledge, in our compassion; and above all, in our acts of
love!
Let us stop proclaiming
God’s wonder in what lies beyond and come to recognize it here all around us!
As we approach Thanksgiving Day, let’s stop asking for God to give more, and
give thanks for what has already been given.
Let us stop looking for God in some distant heaven and begin to
recognize that He/She is ever-present all around us!!!
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