Miracles

“Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.” ~Jon Bon Jovi

Friday will mark twelve years since Colleen was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. We’ve treated every day since as a second life we didn’t expect, a lesson in perspective, a true miracle.

On May 29, four years ago, we got another miracle we didn’t expect: a granddaughter with Down syndrome. The lessons she’s taught us about exploration, love and “life on the scenic route” have forever changed our outlook.

It’s been hard to navigate 2020. Our divisions were revealed in stark relief during the late presidential campaign. Lifelong friendships were fractured. We forgot how to accept that which we admire about others in the shadows cast by points of view we can’t understand.

We struggle with the bother thrust upon our comfortable routines by the pandemic. For many, Covid is still something that happens to other people. We are angered that our kids can’t experience all the normal traditions that we took for granted before the Coronavirus changed everything. We chafe at having to wear masks. We desperately want human contact.

The fact that we know what to do to protect the lives of our loved ones is miraculous. The inconveniences we lived with to manifest a destiny for our friends and families will recede into the rear view mirror of history.

Hopefully, the lesson’s learned won’t.

I counted how often I’ve written the word “attitude” in the 16 years I’ve been sharing these 443 humble tomes. It’s appeared 112 times.

C. S. Lewis wrote that, “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”

Our attitude can brush away the fog of anger and disappointment and bring miracles into focus.

That doesn’t mean it’s an easy road. We all carry unseen burdens, invisible scars. We never fully heal from the inevitable wounds we endure.

The true power of the human spirit is our ability to prevail anyway; to build a body of work that is not defined by the injuries we sustain along the way.

The challenges of 2020 will pass. The visionaries among us will see selfless sacrifice as our generation’s finest hour. Travail can make us stronger, better able to face the next inevitable challenge, to savor the magic moments that can occur even in the darkest days.

Choosing how we react is our greatest power. Faith in a future we cannot yet see is our greatest miracle.