The Only Miracle I Need

Today I was reminded twice before 10:30am about the importance of just being in and accepting the present.


The first time I was reminded was this morning as I opened the Sunday Times and read this article about a mother who has an 18 month old son who has Tay-Sachs.  The rules of parenting look different to her.  She talks about how parenting is always so forward/future focused.  I can attest to that just being pregnant and from my experience as a parent educator, we are always thinking about what we are doing today that will offer the most benefit for tomorrow.


But this mother lives with the knowledge that her son probably will not live past the age of three and that much of what parents worry about and plan for are not really relevant to her parenting.  In a way being able to be in the present with her son and not so future focused is a kind of gift.  For sure it is a lesson that we can all learn from, because all any of us really has is the present, the here and now.  I want to ask you, how can we enjoy the present if our minds are always consumed by the past or the future?  I would argue that we can't, at least not fully.


The second time I was reminded of the importance of being in and reveling in the present was at Unity Unitarian this morning during Janne Eller-Isaacs' sermon on miracles.  Janne talked about how love is the greatest, most powerful, and truthfully the only miracle she needs.  She talked about her son and his reality of living with melanoma, where the odds are stacked against him.  And while everyday she prays for a miracle cure, the true miracle is in fact his life, the present, who he is.  Out of Love came the miracle of his life.  Again all any of us really has is the present, the here and now.  We can fret about the past, worry about the future, but if we do only that, we risk losing sight of what is most important, most miraculous...the present moment we find ourselves in now.


Miracles abound everywhere around us, but it is only when we keep ourselves fully aware and embracing of the present that we are able to truly witness and acknowledge the miracles that abound everyday.  Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”   Like Janne I believe the choice is ours to make and I want to live as if everything is a miracle, in the present, and filled to the brim with the only miracle I need: LOVE!