Miracles

Following on what I wrote the other day about prayer, some thoughts on miracles.  I believe in them;  I insist on them.  Without the miraculous, life can't really be life.  And prayer and miracle are inextricably linked.

But when I speak about miracles, when I speak about the certainty of miracles, I don not insist on the inexplicability (if that's a word) of miracles.  There are miracles that are hard to explain, if not downright impossible.  "How on earth could that have happened?" we may say, on occasion.  But miracles of that sort are not a central part of my belief; far from it, in fact - back in the wilderness, confronted by Satan (or perhaps one might better say, by all the temptations that would be ever-present throughout his ministry and needed to be confronted now, before he even began), Jesus made it very clear that dazzling people into belief by performing impossible tricks was not part of his agenda.

Loving people into belief by "showing them the Father" clearly was, however.  For me miracles happen when love triumphs over hatred and apathy;  when sad situations and hurting people find healing;  when those who are turned aside, banned, turned into refugees find acceptance and welcome;  when peace is built by small caring actions even as the guns are firing down the road;  when water flows in the desert, and beauty lifts and changes hearts.  Miracles happen when our needs and fears and hurts find an answer;  it doesn't matter to me whether I know how it was done, whether I can see the workings-out;  it doesn't have to be one of the impossible things folk like me are supposed to believe every day before breakfast.  Miracle is the dawn breaking after the darkness of night.

And yet of course not every dark night ends with a sunrise, and not every pain is relieved by a healing touch.  The miracles I see don't make the whole world good, they don't clear up all the mess, the world is still often a rotten and hurtful place.  What miracles do is to persuade me that the world doesn't have to be like that - like this.  I am encouraged to believe that I should continue as a pilgrim.  Miracles are purposeful and contain within themselves the possibility of contagion:  one can lead to another, as candles can light other candles.  Whenever my life is brightened by a gracious impact, it's then that I should be asking "Why me?" - rather than, as so often is the case, when I feel downhearted or up against it.  Why me?  What can I do with this blessing, how can I share it and grow it and pass it on?