Daily Miracles

There are thousands of medical miracles that most of us take for granted every day. Scientific advances have produced many fascinating inventions that have been described as miraculous in centuries and millennia past. For example, think of antibiotics, corrective lenses for our vision, antiviral medications, hearing aids, surgical technologies, MRI and sonograms, dental care, organ transplantation, blood transfusion, vaccines, and so much more. When I slow down to think about these amazing human achievements and how we benefit from them, I cannot help but find myself captivated by a spirit of awe and wonder at what is truly miraculous.

Consider for example the miracle of birth. That a mother not only literally gives of herself in the months of pregnancy to sustain and grow a new human person within her is indeed miraculous, but so is the ability to breastfeed, to sacrifice one's time and energy at all hours of the day and night, to put the interests and concerns of a child ahead of one's own, and to do all the things required of parents and caregivers that seem impossible to do and give. Let us make an effort, or should I say a duty, a responsibility, to slow down, to see the world anew, to look at what is before us and what we experience everyday as a form of divine intervention, a form of grace, a form of the miraculous. There is, I believe, a spiritual need that calls us to cultivate a better sense of awe and wonder in the world. This is what recognizing everyday miracles means: that God not only intervenes in rare occasions, but is present in a variety of human experiences at all times.

Perhaps the next time you feel ill or are injured and can be healed by medications or procedures we too often take for granted today, you might reflect on the miracle that is the natural and medical sciences, embrace a feeling of awe and wonder, and give thanks to God. Perhaps the next time you find yourself delayed in travel, you might reflect on the miracle that is modern travel technologies, embrace a feeling of awe and wonder, and give thanks to God. Perhaps the next time you get frustrated or feel impatient at the behavior of your fellow citizen in the grocery store line, you might reflect on our interconnectedness and interdependence, embrace a feeling of awe and wonder, and give thanks to God.