Seeing Life’s Miracles

My wife and I live in a small town not far outside of Boston. The other day I was thinking back to a cool day at the end of May, but everything was in bloom, the lawns were a beautiful green, and everyone had a smile on their face. And why not? The land was coming alive, and so were we weary New Englanders after a too-long and too-cold winter. I knew that many in the northern parts of the country were still in the waning days of the winter doldrums, but they were the waning days! Soon the hearty people of North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin enjoyed their spring too.

Now that winter is again pressing forward in New England, I look forward to another change in the seasons, and all of the joy it brings with family and faith.

Something that I have come to realize from meeting people all over this beautiful country is that we all are grateful for what we have for the most part – some more than others. Certainly there is plenty to complain about within our day to day lives: the driveway needs to be plowed; the lawn needs to be mowed; the garden needs to be weeded. But, if I allow myself to be in the moment of the snowstorm, or of the tall grass, I can still see the miracles that God brings to all of us every day.

God’s intention for us is to inspire us to do the very best that we can for Him every day. Many of you will look at this statement and think that it’s not true. Some will question and say, “If God’s will is for His people to thrive, then why did He flood my fields and distroy my crops?”, or “Why did He give me so much debt?” In reality, He didn’t do any of that to any one of us. His interest is in our success and in our salvation. Why would He do these things to us?

Many of you may disagree with me on this point. That’s OK, and I’d like to hear your thoughts. God has worked hard to make us responsible in His Word. He wants us to go forth, multiply, and take dominion over this earth and the animals that occupy it with us. But we have decided to walk away from His path and form our own way. Sadly, many of these choices have been poorly planned and not well mapped. When we start believing that our human ways are fine on their own, without God’s careful guidance, we can get ourselves into trouble. Sometimes big trouble.

Yes, there are bound to be floods when we build farms and houses close to rivers, knowing that we are taking a chance that the river may rise and distroy our property. Also, God didn’t give us credit cards and tell us to spend beyond our means. We chose to do that.

What I’m trying to say is that these are human problems, not God problems. Certainly there are those of us that are well-meaning in all that we do and bad things happen to us. I know this feeling myself. Five years ago I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, had a difficult surgery and two follow-up surgeries, lost part of my eyesight and all of my pituitary functioning. I have to take all kinds of pills and injections for the rest of my life, but I never blamed God. I pleaded to him sometimes, but never blamed Him. If anything, it taught me to look for life’s miracles and celebrate then as much as I can.

So, when you set out to blame our Lord for something in your life, just stop for a bit and think – why then would Jesus have died for us and our sins on the cross? God has a passionate love for us – greater than any love. It is not His will for us to suffer in any way.

As you work through something that has ruined you, or crippled you, look still for your purpose and your blessing and continue to serve Him. We are in His image. Be wounded and strong. See beauty in all that surrounds us.