{"id":1230,"date":"2012-08-26T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-08-26T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2012-08-26T11:25:12","modified_gmt":"2012-08-26T16:25:12","slug":"ordinary-miracles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1230","title":{"rendered":"Ordinary Miracles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Miracles-Happen-cropped.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-1235\" title=\"Miracles Happen - cropped\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Miracles-Happen-cropped-300x250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"163\" \/><\/a>Years ago \u2013 before moving pictures, visual effects, and technology that constantly shocks the senses \u2013 people seemed to appreciate their surroundings more.\u00a0 They realized that life itself is a miracle.\u00a0 The whole universe is a miracle.\u00a0 These are not chance happenings, but actual miracles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the following classic authors and poets were on to something\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Ralph Waldo Emerson:\u00a0 \u201cThe invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miracle in the common.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>John Donne:\u00a0 \u201cThere is nothing that God hath established in a constant course of nature . . . but would seem a Miracle, and exercise our admiration, if it were done but once.\u201d\u00a0 Donne was referring to things such as flowers blooming, the sun rising, the stars appearing in the sky, or a rainbow.\u00a0 Perhaps if we had seen that oak tree grow strong and tall from one little acorn in fast motion before our very eyes we might consider it a miracle.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Walt Whitman:\u00a0 \u201cTo me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle\u2026.Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. . .\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes we are so busy looking somewhere else for a miracle we can\u2019t see the ones before our very eyes.\u00a0 Jesus told the disciples, \u201cDo you have eyes but fail to see\u2026?\u201d The same might apply to us.\u00a0 That was certainly the case with those who were looking for Christ to come.\u00a0 Since they were looking for a Messiah descending from heaven with a flaming sword of righteousness they did not recognize the Christ child in the manger as their Savior.\u00a0 They missed what was right before their eyes.<\/p>\n<p>How much do we miss every day?\u00a0 Can we see God in ordinary miracles?\u00a0 Miracles like\u2026 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Finding your lost car your lost keys without having to spend all day looking for them<\/li>\n<li>Losing your Visa card with absolutely no idea of where it might be when Target unexpectedly calls to say you left it there<\/li>\n<li>Receiving an unexpected note of appreciation for no reason at all \u2013 just because you are YOU\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The grocery line being short when you are in a hurry\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Singing your lungs out because your favorite oldies song came on the radio \u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Answering the phone to hear your son from college saying he just called to say, &#8220;I love you&#8221; and doesn\u2019t even ask for money \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>All the lights being green on your way to work<\/li>\n<li>Enjoying\u00a0the shade of an oak tree and realizing it grew from one little acorn<\/li>\n<li>A healthy child being born<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If we don\u2019t recognize and appreciate the ordinary miracles in our everyday lives, it\u2019s likely we won\u2019t recognize the bigger ones when they come our way.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Years ago \u2013 before moving pictures, visual effects, and technology that constantly shocks the senses \u2013 people seemed to appreciate their surroundings more.\u00a0 They realized that life itself is a miracle.\u00a0 The whole universe is a miracle.\u00a0 These are not &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1230\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}