“You will face your greatest opposition when you are closest to your biggest miracle.” ~ Shannon L. Alder
I’ve never really cared for New Years or birthdays. I’m just not a big fan of mile markers. They tend to force me to look back and become painful aware of whatever I failed to accomplish. It’s been a tough year for a lot of people. Death, divorce, illness, heartbreak, some unforeseeable crisis; it seems like almost everyone I know, had something truly challenging happen to them this year. And those are just the personal, private challenges. Violence, mass shootings, acts of terrorism, and displacement seemed to abound, leaving tragedy in it is wake.
Though, one thing I’m beginning to appreciate about getting older. Is knowing, no matter where you are in life, (on top of the world, or at the bottom of the barrel), no one is exempt from random shit just landing on them, and fucking them up. It’s never personal. It’s just life. Life has joy, and beauty, and laughter, but no matter how pristine we try to make our environments. No matter how safe we think we are. Eventually we can’t escape that life is struggle. In fact, it’s been my experience, the more we try to run from that truth, the more of a struggle life becomes. Which is why it’s still important to believe in miracles.
We can become dismissive and cynical about the notion of miracles, because when we say the world “miracle” we think of, Moses parting the Red Sea or Jesus healing people. We think of otherworldly acts of magic. To me, miracles exist, through benevolent and random acts of kindness. Do I believe, that there may be divine intervention in the timing and outcome of such acts? Absolutely! But, almost all miracles (at least the one’s I’ve witnessed), came from one thing, and one thing only. Our capacity to love one another and the tenacity to believe, against all odds, that even when we can’t fix an entire problem. Doing what we can, with whatever we’ve got, will at least help. Miracles never come from fighting, belligerence, ambition, envy or jealousy. Miracles come from compassion.
When I look at the things I’ve been challenged with this year. And the myriad of things the people I love have been challenged with this year. I’m reminded, that all of us are doing what we can with what we’ve got. What has made the difference; what’s made it all okay, is that we have all been there for each other, large and small. We have all, at one time or another, taken each other in, and taken care of each other. Literally and metaphorically, we have held each other close and, (in our own generosity of spirit), offered whatever we had available to us. The miracles come from believing that what we have to give, will be enough.
I mentioned divine intervention because it is my belief that it does come into play. Think of it like an energetic domino effect. Because love, if nothing else is an energy. And energy has the power to move things beneath the surface in ways that we can’t see. I’ve been told that when people are ill, those who are prayed for, have better and more miraculous recovery rates. I don’t know if that’s true but I’d like to believe it.
So, as this year comes to a close and a new one begins; I’m going to try hard to remember. That looking back on what I have or haven’t accomplished in a year is meaningless. Looking back and realizing, what I have been given, and what I have to give, on any given day, in any given year, at any given age, is where the miracles lay. There will always be struggle. There will always be challenges. There will always be pain. But the miracle is in knowing, when we reach out and help each other, (in whatever way we can), the spirits come rushing in, to make the most of each, and every, miraculous act of love.
Journey to the Sun 