they’re all around us!
photo by Savvas Kalimeris @savvas_kalimeris
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~Albert Einstein
I started writing in the dark, using only the light of my laptop for seeing my keyboard, but literally within what we identify in human terms as minutes, our black room slowly began to gain light as the dark night was passing into a new day. The sun is rising.
As I sit here typing I can feel the presence of God washing over me. There’s so much warmth coming over me as the sun slowly takes its place over the ocean. I’m witnessing a miracle, like it’s something I’ve never seen before, and yet I have seen the sunrise many times, but somehow it always seems like the first time. It feels like I am being wrapped in a warm blanket and held tenderly with love, the way I love to wrap our grandbabies up in the mornings and just snuggle them tight.
We are in Florida for a conference for Greg’s work, and I have a fabulous view for my writing space in that the desk in our room faces the beach across the street, and I have a front row seat to watching, as God slowly unfolds a brand-new day, and although I have watched probably thousands of sunrises, once again, I am in pure awe.
photo by Jorge Vasconez @jorgeluis
What have I done to deserve love like this?
The truth is I have done nothing. I can’t earn what He so freely gives, the mercy of a new day and getting to watch as He works His artistic skills right before my very eyes is undeserved blessings that are being poured out because of His grace and love for me. It is the very same grace and love He extends to each of us at the start of each new day.
As I watch the cars go by, people running, riding their bikes, workers starting their jobs for the day, I cannot help but think, did they see that? Did they recognize the miracle they just experienced as the sun was rising over the ocean, even on this rainy, stormy Saturday morning? Do they realize the mere fact that the tide, regulated by the moon, knows exactly where to stop, is a miracle in and of itself?
photo by Timon Studler @derstudi
His original miracles still surround us each and every day!
Suddenly, I’m reminded of just how many miracles we miss every single day and how much we simply take for granted. So, I decided today was going to be a day where I would be focused and intentional about noticing as much as possible. Y’all, brace yourself. This is merely one single day of life my life, being incredibly focused and intentional, not even coming close to seeing everything, not even listing them all here, and yet the miracles were all around me.
“Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Today, God was telling me, look up child. See the miracles all around you, name them one by one, and thank Me for each one.
photo by Nick Owuor @astro_nic25
1. I woke up for another day of life. I have an internal biological clock that helps guide my body in knowing when to rest and when to move. WOW!!
2. I woke up with blood running through my veins, pumped by a very complex organ called my heart, there is breath in my lungs, and my entire body and all its systems are working together to give me life. That is WAY cool!!
3. I can put my feet on the ground and not merely float because we have a force called gravity. Whoa!! That’s amazing!!
4. I can see! I can read my Bible or my devotional. I can freely move about, unhindered by anything. I have my eyesight that gives me so much freedom, merely because my eyes work with my brain exactly as they should.
5. I can hear the birds singing outside. My ears allow me to hear beautiful sounds all around me and also help protect me from danger. That’s a miracle y’all!
6. I am surrounded by beauty. Palm trees, plants, greenery, flowers all of which have their own system/methods of living, gaining nutrients, taking in, processing, and storing water. God created plants and trees, and all living things with their own systems for sustaining life. People, that is INCREDIBLE!!
7. People are walking around with their pets. Animals all have a purpose and miraculously also have their own unique ways of living and surviving, and the joy they bring us is such a gift!
8. The BEST miracle of all is that we have a God who reaches out to us Every! Single! Day! through so many different avenues because He truly desires for each of us to know Him and have a relationship with Him. How INCREDIBLE!! THE miracle worker and creator of the universe wants to know us and have a relationship with us!
photo by Patrick Fore @patrickian4
Billy Graham once said, ”A transformed life is the greatest of all miracles. Every time a person is “born again” by repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ, the miracle of regeneration is performed.” “It is not the temptations you have, but the decision you make about them that counts.”
My friends, there are a lot of things going on in this world, A LOT of depressing, negative, unjust, unfair, and ugly things, but do not allow your eyes to become so clouded or cast downward that you miss all the miracles right before your eyes every single day.
Stop looking at your feet and where you’ve been.
photo by Scott Goodwill @scottagoodwill
Instead, look up. Lift up your head. Lift your eyes.
photo by Allef Vinicius @seteph
God is still on the throne over all.
photo by Peter Nicola @peternicola
God is still working miracles every single day.
photo by Liane Metzler@liane
I challenge you to take Wayne Dwyer’s five minute a day challenge.
Give yourself a gift of five minutes of contemplation in awe of everything you see around you. Go outside and turn your attention to the many miracles around you. This five-minute-a-day regimen of appreciation and gratitude will help you to focus your life in awe. ~Wayne Dyer
“People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
This is my father's world
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres
This is my father's world
The birds their carols raise
The morning light, the lily white
Declare their maker's praise
This is my father's world
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas
His hand the wonders wrought
This is my father's world
Oh, let me never forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet
This is my father's world
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is king, let the heavens ring
God reigns, let the earth be glad
This is my father's world
He shines in all that's fair
In the rustling grass, I hear him pass
He speaks to me everywhere
In the rustling grass, I hear him pass
He speaks to me everywhere
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: C. Barny Robertson / Dp / Maltbie Babcock
This Is My Father's World lyrics © Capitol CMG Publishing, DistroKid, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Songtrust Ave, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc
