Miracles Abound

Perhaps more than any other time in my life I have many unplanned, unscheduled days when the only living creatures I see or hear are my dog Abbey and the chickens or wild birds in the trees outside my front door. It is on those days that I have perhaps the most profound sense of abundant living.

It’s not that there’s not lots to do beside feeding the birds. There is preparing for guests who will come for retreat or rest and plenty of domestic and administrative chores, but there’s no rush, no pressure in any of those things.  And some days there’s absolutely nothing I need to do; no chores pressing, no people waiting, no meetings to attend. There’s time just to be still, to wander and watch, to observe, to take notice of all that is around me; trees, flowers, birds, the space, the quiet and the wonder of all that I have, time to sink into the stillness and to appreciate the beauty and peace.

It’s on those days that I’m most filled with gratitude for all that God has provided, not just on that day, but for all that He has provided throughout my life; the beautiful people, wonderful experiences, amazing opportunities, the ways I’ve known God’s presence and guidance over so many years.

I love that feeling of gratitude. I love being in a place where I’m completely at peace in the silence and solitude and beauty. And yet when there is an unexpected visitor there is no sense of disruption or interruption as it might have once been in the busier years of my life, when the appearance of an unexpected visitor or task was an interruption in my plans or schedule for the day. Now I’m able to see this differently, perhaps an opportunity to have a God moment; the offering of hospitality, the deepening of relationship, an unexpected surprise, perhaps a gift.

Recently I read a piece from Joan Chittester (Vision and Viewpoint) entitled “Something wonderful can Happen at Any Time.” She defines ‘Mystery’ as the notion that something wonderful can happen at any time if we will only allow space for it, take time for it, and it may take us to a whole new awareness of the immanence of God in time because God can come to us when we least expect Him. Mystery, she says, is what happens to us when we allow life to evolve rather than having to make it happen all the time. It is the unexpected knock at the door, the sudden sight of a blooming flower, an afternoon in the yard, even a ride on a bus, a moment when we smile at a stranger, nod our heads in greeting.  Just to notice. Just to be there, entirely present in the moment, may awaken our souls to something new, may be a reminder of glory, a moment of new understanding, a sense of the presence of God. The secret is in taking time for the mystery to appear, allowing space in our minds and hearts, being receptive to whatever miracle, wonder or newness might be revealed.

For me there are wonderful moments like these as I work in the garden; the sight of new plants emerging from the seeds I’ve sown, the first blooms of the camelia or azalea trees, stopping to watch the king parrots squabble over the food I’ve put in the feeders, seeing a kookaburra, still as stone as he searches the newly dug ground for worms, the sudden perfume of the port wine magnolias, the reflection of grasses waving in the dam, plucking the first of our lemons and limes, collecting eggs from our chickens, gazing at the momentary red glow of the sun rising through the trees. They all reflect the miracles that God has woven into creation, so often taken for granted and yet when noticed, unrushed and openly, they can surprise, astonish, bring a flush of gratitude, a sense of wonder, a touch from God. Because God certainly does come when we least expect it, without our planning and intention. He takes opportunities to whisper His love, to display His glory, to offer His peace. In the ordinary, in the spectacular, He is there if we only have eyes to see and will take the time to stop and appreciate, to take in the wonder of all that He has provided, the majesty of all that He has created.

I have many days like this now, days when I have a sense that the disciples must have had when they walked with Jesus and He would pause and have them take notice of the things around them; ordinary, everyday things, or perhaps something strange or unexpected, and He would show them how these things could change their attitudes, their understanding.  

“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed as one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown in the fire, will He not much more clothe you”. Matthew 6 :25

I can take time to be there now with Jesus in those spaces; watching the birds flit from tree to tree, gazing at our flowers, so beautifully coloured and adorned and I can contemplate, as the disciples surely did, that if God provides for these birds, if this is how He made these beautiful flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, then am I not as loved by Him as these, as provided for as these, as cared about as these. I can take time to sink into that love and be thankful and blessed.

When the psalmist looked around at all that God had made he was amazed that God was mindful of human beings at all because what He’d made in creation was so magnificent.

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

You have set your glory in the heavens… when I consider the work of your fingers, the moon and stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them.

You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour.

You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet, all flocks and herds, and the animals in the wild, the birds in the sky, all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” Psalm 8

 Jesus made it very clear what God’s priorities are, and that these wonders in creation are there for us, to tell us of His love and provision, to show us that if God cared so much for all that He created He would even more care for us. It’ s an amazing thing to take the time to look around and to take notice of what is right before our eyes, and to be reminded how much we are loved, to be shown that we human beings are God’s most treasured creation. The height and depth of His love is poured into us.

I’m thankful today that the miracles I see every day can be moments of God’s assurance, His pleasure and delight in me, and a reminder of how He can be trusted, how He longs to walk with me each day.

May mystery and miracles happen for you today, and may you have eyes and hearts open to receive God’s gifts.