A broken heart has a difficult time recognizing miracles.
When my mother died at the tender age of 14, I remember being painfully aware of the beauty in the world. It was an insult to my eyes.
The audacious spinning of the world.
All I could see and recognize was my hurt. Twenty-three years later I felt the same insult as my father slipped away on a beautiful September afternoon.
I am an elementary school teacher, so I am going to draw inspiration from an unlikely character. Meet Wilbur.
If you have never taken the opportunity to read the children’s classic Charlotte’s Web, then I implore you to put this is on the top of your reading list. Why? Because we could all use more childlike wonder in our lives.
Don’t take my word for it: Jesus said so.
Jesus did not like His followers telling the children not to come. So He said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people who are like these little children. The truth is, you MUST accept God’s Kingdom LIKE a child accepts things, or you will never enter it.” Then Jesus held the children in His arms. Mark 10:14-16 ERV
When tucking my youngest child into bed recently she whispered to me, “Momma, is Papaw finished visiting Heaven now? Can he come back to us?”
I replied, “No sweetheart, Papaw is not just visiting Heaven. He has moved there and someday we will move there too. ”
My child accepted, with no theological debate, the truth of HEAVEN.
Miraculous
A miracle is defined as: a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.
I end every school year with a read aloud of Charlotte’s Web. This book has taught me 2 very important lessons about Miracles.
- I must be on watch.
In Charlotte’s Web, the miracle of words in a simple spider’s web captured everyone’s attention. They all went to Sunday church to hear the minister explain the miracle. He simply said:
Human beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonders.
My broken heart has not had the ability to recognize everyday miracles because it simply stopped looking. Have you stopped looking? Are you on watch for the coming of wonders? I am afraid that our world offers too many distractions to the miraculous. Even this blog you are reading (and I am SO GRATEFUL you are) is a distraction. When is the last time you really looked for the miraculous? We can’t see with our heads down in our phones. We have to LOOK UP and we have to look WITH childlike wonder.
Which leads me to lesson number two.
2. I must become like a child.
“Children pay better attention than grownups.”
(Dr.Dorian~Charlotte’s Web)
One of my favorite scenes in the book is when the children spend their afternoon swinging from a rope through the door of the old barn. It reminds me of the hours I spent swinging in my own backyard. The first time I remember being aware of God’s presence was on my swing staring at the blue sky. I spent the days literally swinging in His arms aware of His love and feeling perfectly safe.
I want to get back to that place.
Grief stuns the heart. For a time you are suspended from reality and you are aware of the space between each heartbeat. I’ve missed things like joy, wonder, awe, and contentment.
I’m ready to feel joy again. I’m ready to be on watch for the coming of wonders!
As I reflect on this pass year here are some miracles I almost overlooked:
- Belly laughs in Grief Group (take that in for a moment….. it was sweet)
- Butterflies
- Friendship
- Baby birds taking flight
- Smiles in a radiation clinic
- Cards that show up in your mailbox when you need them most
I’ll be watching for something to add to my list.
What’s on your list?