Ordinary Miracle

We found our wedding song at the end of the movie, Charlotte’s Web. It’s called “Ordinary Miracle,” and the incomparable Sarah McLachlan sings it. Here are the lyrics:

It’s not that unusual
When everything is beautiful
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

The sky knows when it’s time to snow
Don’t need to teach a seed to grow
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Life is like a gift they say
Wrapped up for you everyday
Open up and find a way
To give some of your own

Isn’t it remarkable?
Like every time a rain drop falls
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Birds in winter have their fling
But always make it home by spring
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

When you wake up everyday
Please don’t throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart
‘Cause we’re all a part
Of the ordinary miracle

It seems so exceptional
That things just work out after all
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Sun comes up and shines so bright
And disappears again at night
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Hearing those words, albeit at the end of a movie about a pig, reminded me of the fact that our chance meeting was in fact a divine appointment. On the surface it seemed like an ordinary event, friends of friends getting together on a Saturday night, but really, it was the beginning of our miracle.

At Easter, Christians are reminded of miracles and rebirth. Throughout the gospels, Jesus performs miracles, whether or not the crowds understood them as such. Whether it was 2000 years ago or in this day and age, in the busyness and daily grind, people tend to miss miracles. The miracles that Jesus performed were spectacular, maybe too immense for common understanding. It is no surprise then, that the ordinary miracles that surround us are often missed.

By definition, a miracle is divine in nature. A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency. What miracles take place in your midst that you are too busy or tired or distracted to notice?

God paints the canvas of our lives with miracles using the colors of hope. The person who is close to me, who was truly almost taken by addiction, celebrated Easter in my home yesterday. The doctors described her physical recovery as a medical miracle. While she still has a long way to go, she is walking proof that prayers are answered. My niece, who at age 26 was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer a year ago, got her latest scans and is almost in the NED (No Evidence of Disease) category.

Miracles aren’t always life or death; sometimes they are so subtle we tend not to notice. Ordinary miracles make up the rhythms of life on this planet; migrations, mating and birth, recurrent blooms and brilliant displays of perseverance and light. If we choose to stop and witness, they remind us of an omnipotent and omnipresent Creator, who is creative and caring as well.

Ordinary miracles also spring up at the hands of humans, though I believe divinely inspired. An unlikely reconciliation. A kindness that requires sacrifice or courage, or both. A surprising change of heart. Our lives are stories laced in miracles; human interactions are fertile ground for hope to grow. I view each day since I stopped drinking as an ordinary miracle, one of many, bearing witness to the fact that people can break the cycle and take their lives back.

The thing about miracles is that they aren’t found in beauty and perfection. They spring up out of darkness and mess, fear and despair. We don’t tend to experience them when things are going well, so it stands to reason that this past year was full of miracles. Some miracles are gradual in nature, sneaking up and walking unassumingly beside us until we turn and take in the new landscape created through faith and work and showing up. Some are sudden and spontaneous, the kind that take our breath away.

And miracles, both ordinary and extraordinary, continue to exist and manifest in our lives whether or not we acknowledge them. We can cover them up with the darkness of fear, and continue to exist in a world plagued by problems. But isn’t it better to live our lives snatching up the little pieces of hope that are ours for the taking? Dangling before us like ripened fruit waiting for harvest.

Today I hope you choose to see the ordinary miracles in your life, and that you decide to savor the sweetness.