When I was watching the news the other night, I saw a story on this little girl who was walking by what looked like a convenience or grocery store when all of the sudden, a car comes flying into the air and crashes into the store.  When watching the video from the store’s surveillance camera, you immediately think that the little girl has been struck by the car and thus, pinned against the wall.  Because you don’t see her running away or see any evidence of her at all on the video after the car crashes, you can’t help but think the worse.  However, there was a row of parking poles separating the little girl from the car.  And those poles were what saved her life.  When the driver recklessly backed up her car at a high rate of speed, she hit one of the poles first before actually landing on the pole.  But because the little girl saw the car coming at her, she ran out of the way.  If she ran a few feet more to one side versus the other, she may not have been so lucky.  This four year old little girl escaped with barely a scratch on her.  It was truly a miracle that neither the little girl nor anyone else got hurt.  The little girl’s father even said he thinks someone must have been watching over her that day.

Image Credits – khq.com

This story really had me thinking about miracles and how there must be a higher being that watches over us and protects us.  I started wondering why miracles don’t seem to happen too often but when they do, they seem to be quite significant.  I started asking myself when was the last time I witnessed a miracle and why one had never happened to me.  I realize that that was a pretty self-absorbed question but it’s not as if I was asking for a miracle to happen.  I was just wondering why it happens to some and not to others.  And then it hit me, miracles do happen everyday.  They might not necessarily be as dramatic as a little girl narrowly missing her death, but they are meaningful and they do happen.  You can find them; it’s just a matter of perspective.

While I was in yoga class one morning, my teacher, Chanel, decided to tell us one of her inspiring stories just before we were about to go into savasana for the final portion of our class.  She told us a story about her little sister who is adopted from China.  Chanel mentioned that she went to China with her mother and a bunch of other families from the New England area to adopt infants and to bring them back to their new homes.  Since this happened about 10 years ago, many of the families had lost touch and unfortunately, many of the infants, who are now grown children, didn’t even know each other.

But this past summer, Chanel’s sister went away to a new day camp where she wasn’t going to know anyone and would have to make new friends.  She told Chanel that while she was nervous, this wasn’t going to prevent her from being friendly and meeting new people.  After the first day of camp, she came home to tell her family that she had met a girl that looked just like her and that they were now best friends.  But as little children often times are forgetful, she couldn’t remember her name.  So the next day after camp, she raced home to tell her family her new friend’s name and that she had come from the same orphanage and that her mother wanted to speak with their mother.  It turns out that not only did these two little girls come from the same orphanage, but they shared the same crib.  And after all these years, these two girls had somehow found each other and were now connected again.  If Chanel’s sister went to her new camp with her mind and heart closed and let her nervousness get the best of her, she may not have ever met her long lost friend.  But because she was willing to be open to the possibility of meeting new people, she allowed for a miracle to happen.

And then I started thinking about my own life and some of the events that occurred that could be considered ‘everyday miracles’.  This stayed in my mind for most of the day and quite honestly, I came up with more than a few.  One in particular that came to my mind happened close to four years ago.  It was when Patrick and I were just about to move into our condo.  Because we purchased our home at pre-construction, we could only hope that our condo was going to be ready to be moved into when the lease on the apartment that we were previously living in had ended.  Needless to say, our condo was not ready and wasn’t going to be ready for at least another month.

A month?  What were we going to do?  Where were we going to store ALL of our belongings? And most importantly, where were we going to live?  Fortunately, I have a kind and considerate sister who invited me into her home.  However, her home at the time was a studio apartment that was about 400 square feet.  While she would have loved to have both me and Patrick live with her, she really only had room for one (if that).  On the week that I was about to move in, my sister had some unfortunate circumstances occur to her and was thus, was going through a very difficult time.  She needed someone to support her; she needed someone to get her through this tough time.  She needed her sister.  So while I needed a temporary place to live, she needed a shoulder to cry on.  It was as if a higher power had somehow worked to bring us together while we both were in need.  If our condo had been ready on time, I might  not have been able to be there for my sister in the capacity that she needed me.  But because we both needed each other so badly at that time, an everyday miracle happened.  While my sister’s futon served as a place for me to lie my head for the next several weeks, it was her heart that gave me comfort.  Knowing that I could be there for her and knowing that I could help to mend her broken spirit, was enough for me to see that God has a unique way of making things work out.

There are little miraculous occurrences in life that take place all of the time.  And as I said previously, it doesn’t have to be something as life altering as almost getting struck by a car.  However, I think it’s our duty to find the magic, the monumental moment and the miracle that happens day-to-day.  If we don’t see or find the extraordinary, then that is just what our lives will seem – ordinary.  We need to be grateful for each day, for each day can in fact produce a miracle.

When is the last time you experienced an ‘everyday miracle’?

Namasté,
Nicole