Is Nothing a Miracle?  Is Everything a Miracle?                      Go to: www.SeniorARK.com

Albert Einstein said, "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."  Not as profound, perhaps, as E=mc2. Or is it? Think about it for a moment. If you have a teenage grandchild, you know that they look at the computer as just a part of life, much as our generation looked at the telephone, or the radio. In fact you may still remember the first radio stations, and wondered how voices could be "thrown" across the country, only to appear again on your little RCA. I remember sitting on the floor as a very young child, wondering how people could be so little and live in that radio. Today I look at my computer with that same sense of wonder. The message I am now writing will be uploaded to my web host in a few minutes, and will immediately be available to readers all over the world. Now that is something to think about if you were born in the 20's, 30's, 40's. or indeed the 70's. And yet today's teenagers look at these computers and wonder how anyone could have survived without one, or two. One man's miracle is another's "Oh, big deal!"

And those are just things that man has made. Impressive to be sure. Miraculous in a sense, indeed. But these achievements of man are not even a dimple on an orange, compared with the miracles of God in the natural world. And Einstein saw that through his observations. He saw an unexplainable order in the universe, mathematical purity, an infinite universe, matter formed from nothing. The further he looked, the more he saw the universe as a miracle.

We Christians believe that God created everything that Einstein observed; time, the infinity of the universe, the elements, rotation of the earth, the miracle of the seasons, trees from seeds, fruit from flowers. And we believe that we were created with the capacity to act and think uniquely. The ability to create, to love, to care for.

Think of the complexity of the human body, the ecosystem of the Brazilian rainforests, the ongoing formation of new stars as seen by the Hubble telescope. How can we not see everything as a miracle?

Even without the Hubble, the Psalmist observes, "

"When I consider your heavens,
       the work of your fingers,
       the moon and the stars,
       which you have set in place,

             What is man that you are mindful of him"

As he looked around at the awesome, miraculous creation, the writer wondered about his place in it all. Not necessarily a bad perspective. Yet I think he understood that he was a significant miracle among a world of miracles.

When I step outside today, do I say, "Damn it's raining again!", or "Thank you Father that I am able to feel the miracle of your rain." Surely, we have all been in both places. In which circumstance were we the happiest? Does it sound hokey and simplistic? Perhaps. But I think that our happiness depends upon it. Do you watch the show Saturday Night Live? There is a character currently playing, called Debbie Downer. No matter how happy anyone is, or what joy they are expressing, Debbie always brings them down with the darker view. Debbie never sees a miracle.

How will I see the world, and its people today. As miracles, or unfortunate accidents of the universe. The choice I make may well determine how happy and content I am this day.

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"THIS IS MY FATHER'S WORLD"      Maltbie D. Babcock, 1901 

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

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PRAYER: Father, Help me today to see the miracles that are all around me. Amen