Thank you for joining us this month as we have taken the opportunity to share with you some of what we have learned over the course of our 10 year miracle journey and in the 5 years since
The Miracle Chase was first published. Today is the final installment in our Miracle Monday series for the month of November. Our thanks go out to you our readers, supporters, friends and family especially at a time when we are already called to be grateful for so much in our lives.
Here's to chasing - and finding - miracles with all of you.
Joan, Katie and Meb
So far, we’ve talked about miracles as a universal language, about miracles as signs and how to better recognize them, types of miracles large and small, and how a miracle experience has the effect of changing the stars, for an individual, a nation, or the world. We’ve talked about our contribution to the miracle discussion, the Ripple Effect, how a miracle is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
A miracle is difficult to define. Oftentimes, it seems miracles lead to a new relationship with God, though evidently faith and prayer are not necessarily a prerequisite, since miracle experiences are reported by the complacent and the skeptical as well. We have come to believe that miracles are indeed in the eyes of the beholder, that signs can be very personal and in this sense singularly understood. Only you know if a miracle has occurred. Sometimes the only evidence exists in your soul, like the peace that came over Joan in the waiting room, not knowing if her son would live or die.
What we have learned is that miracles abound and are there for each of us to find, whether it is in a magnificent sunset, an act of kindness at just the right moment or an answer to a prayer. While we usually think of miracles as asking God to say “Yes” to us, we have come to realize that miracles are also about us saying “Yes” to God.
Our experience in writing and speaking about miracles has given us an appreciation of the importance of sharing these stories. As gifts from God, miracles can reach their full potential only when they are released into the world. This is not only true of the great religions, but also to each of us who are called to be witnesses to an experience that reminds us of our connection to each other and to the Divine.
This notion of connection is the final piece to the puzzle of how we define a miracle. We hope that you will join us in recognizing that a miracle is a sign of divine intervention in the world that creates an unfolding and beneficial connection between God and humankind. Our definition made the idea of miracle dynamic and ongoing, not unlike our own continuing spiritual journeys.
Yet, a mere definition can’t begin to capture the essence of a miracle experience. As we say in The Miracle Chase, “…trying to define ‘miracle’ is like trying to catch a beam of light-you can’t contain it: and if you could, the light would be extinguished.” It always comes back to the power of the stories, awe-inspiring, soul-disturbing stories. The goose bumps on the arms, the stirring of something you too might remember, the comfort in knowing God is really out there. We know it takes courage, but we’d like to imagine a stream of miracle stories being told, giving permission to be vulnerable, all the while deepening relationships and connections with each other, with ourselves as well as with the Divine.
If you really think about it, everybody has a story. What’s yours?
