In our time and place, miracles still abound. The sun rises and sets, often in spectacular beauty. Spring gradually colors an earth that appeared barren. Penicillin, heart transplants and other medical advances save people who fifty years ago, would have died young. People reach beyond their selfish needs to help others, even when it’s costly.
When power and back-up generators failed during hurricane Sandy in Oct., 2012, nurses at New York University hospital carefully carried patients, including a 27-week old premature baby, down nine flights of steps, evacuating them to other hospitals in the middle of the night. Less dramatic but just as kindly, those who had power after the storm ran long extension cords to their porches so those without could charge their cell phones and computers.
Sometimes we pray long and hard for a miracle, then when it finally arrives, we get used to it. Aching to be healthy again—then taking it for granted after the cure. Hoping to get pregnant, praying for a healthy baby, then wanting to strangle that surly teenager fourteen years later. Or wanting so badly to get the house… the job… the promotion… whatever it was, and now just wanting to get away from it? We spend so much time thinking about what we don’t have, we forget to be grateful for all we have.
And these blessings are mostly on a natural plane. Could we ever fully appreciate God’s gifts of life, forgiveness, salvation, family, education, friendship, and more? Perhaps the real challenge is to live out of gratitude for the abundant miracles that surround us.
Kathy Coffey 