A few days ago, I had sent birthday wishes to my friend Kalie Marino via facebook which has beome a primary medium to connect with friends whether I have only met them that way or, like Kalie; have known in the face to face world for many years. Among other things, she is a teacher of A Course in Miracles of which I have been a student since the early 1980’s when I met another teacher of the three book series life changing phenom; my friend Alan Cohen.  It is based on the idea that miracles are natural and are (and I love this:) ‘a shift in perception’. I had referred to Kalie as “Miracle Mama” since she is quite the miracle manna-fester and she is a mom too. Her response was to acknowlege me in that way as well. I am now claiming that as part of who I am which got me to thinking how a Miracle Mama would move through life.

The ways in which we refer to ourselves is a mirror-reflection of our perspective.  I am and you are, many things…we contain multitudes.  I can rattle off the various roles I play as mother, friend, sister, aunt, professional hyphenate (writer-speaker-minister-social worker) and yet none of those things are truly me any more than you are the sum of hats you wear.   Today at work, I was speaking with a young woman who was struggling with her identity; seeing herself as being flawed and imperfect, so it amazed her that she would have a second chance at re-creating her life. She questioned how God could see so much in her when she saw less than that in herself. She wondered how she could move past her view of herself, knowing that unless she could, she would feel depressed indefinitely. She had the mental wherewithal to recognize that her thinking was distorted and with clarity, would come healing. 

Although not to that extreme, there have certainly been times when I have asked those same questions; what lenses have I been wearing that have had me believing I was ‘less than’?  This ‘not enough’ stuff has lured me into being ‘crazy busy’ in order to prove I was something that I thought I wasn’t. I had a revelation recently connected to the ways in which I lived my life 15 or so years ago. The assertive, decisive,  go-getter powerful woman that is typing these words now, was hidden beneath a cloak of self doubt and fear of making waves, conflict avoidant and quite simply, pretty wimpy:)  It took my husband’s illness and subsequent death to rock my world such that I was experiencing a V-8 moment; a spiritual smack on the forehead that woke me up from sleepwalking through life.

Although awareness of miracles had long been part of my life, they seemed few and far between. These days, I see myself as a miracle magnet, attracting serendipitous events several times a day. They come in the form of people entering my life with just the right message to offer, creative opportunities to use my gifts and talents; as well as money appearing like manna from the heavens. I refer to bringing in my heart’s desires as ‘manna-festation’ as a result of hearing my friend Kim Walker call it that.  I set intention each day to be part of miracle creation for myself and others. We never know when and where one (or many) will show up. It need not be anything dramatic, with bells and whistles or lightning flashes across the sky. Watching the sun streaming in through my window, seeing a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis, catching a raindrop in my hand…simply knowing that all is well, is miracle enough.

In what ways do you honor the everyday miracles that appear before you?

Can you adjust your miracle radar to tune in to them?