A Miracle is a Miracle

Big or small, to me, a miracle is a miracle. No matter how one tries to rationalize the occurrence of an astonishing event, in their heart of hearts they know it is nothing short of miraculous. When I retrace the steps and undeniably astonishing events in my life, I cannot but feel the earnest, ebullient effect of miracle milestones strewn all along my lively, lighthearted and logical trajectory. 

It is as if miracles are just waiting to happen in our everyday… from being able to get out of bed each morning, to doing all that we need to do in the course of the day, to experiencing the gentle, soft kiss of sleep each night. Isn’t each of these a miracle?  To most of us these are ordinary things all life on earth does, or has to. But when we look closer, think deeper, we will realize these every day routines that are taken for granted or attributed to our own strengths, are, in fact, our daily dose of miracles. Being someone who feels her coziest best at dawn, I had to lean on God to shake me out of my early morning stupor all those years that I was an active member of the work force! And He would work in different ways – either through the alarm nearby, or my darling best friend.

Flying from one classroom to another (on heels), I, more than anyone else, know how important it is to depend on God’s mercy to reach me to my classes in time, and in one piece, and to be that nano particle of help to those beautiful minds, those young seekers of truth, knowledge and life! You guessed it… I take God along with me everywhere, or more appropriate would be that He never leaves me, you, us. As far as I know and have experienced, God doesn’t take it amiss even when He is treated as an uninvited guest in our lives. There were, and still are, many times when I fail to invite Him, but He has no airs. “He comes, comes, ever comes” (song 45, Tagore’s Gitanjali) with, after, beside and before me. This “Hound of Heaven” (Francis Thompson) follows every one of us around, unobtrusively, aiding us in all humility even when we are ignorant or even arrogant enough to presume that we are in control of our life. Slowly but surely my mind and heart were opened to That Unmistakable Presence that carries me through life’s deepest, densest valleys as much as He keeps me grounded and grateful when on the mountain top of my life. 

We just need to look around us to see, to know and to realize God is ever present in and with us – His presence smiling up at us through the tiniest grass flower at our feet, the caring embrace of family, the love of friends, the work of our hands (Gerard Manley Hopkins, Pied Beauty), the hardships that strengthen our resilience, the future that fans the flame of faith! If all of these and more aren’t miracles, then I really do not know what is! For our rational mind (in its narrow sense), in my opinion, is at best, irrational. Not sure if I am being understood at this point, but I strongly feel that when we attempt to rationalize everything, we are spreading God’s presence very thin; snuffing out the Divine spark in us. Logic and reason are necessary life tools, and if infused with faith, they can work wonders for us and for all around. Let not our life of ‘experience’ smother our innate ‘innocence’ that makes us thankful, grateful and humble humans.   “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.