How do people not see?
I would put it that many do not see the miracles which happen around them because they are too focused on watching their own feet to look up and around them.
People are looking for 'magic', not miracles and miracles don't always work.
I agree with you about the "magic" thing, especially combined with the idea that the ways of the Divine (by whatever name you wish) are quite often different than what we would like and just because things don't manifest exactly as you would like, doesn't mean that something marvelous and miraculous isn't happening right in front of you. Thus, I would say that miracles DO happen and they DO work, but if we're only looking for a specific manner of response to a specific input (i.e. - I want my prayer answered in X way in Y timescale), then you are correct.
Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive" (Mt. 21:21-22)Note, Christ never said WHAT you will receive, nor in what timescale, nor how that would manifest itself.
This all reminds me of a story:
A flood threatens a town, forcing everyone to evacuate, But Joe thinks, "I'm a devout man, God will save me," and stays put. As the waters rise, Joe's neighbor comes by and says, "Joe come with me, we've got to go." Joe declines, "I'm a devout man, God will save me."
The waters keep rising, Joe scrambles to his second floor. A firefighter in a rowboat comes by. "Get in the boat or you'll drown," he says. Joe again declines, saying, "God will save me. So this flood story goes."
Finally, the flood waters force Joe to his roof. A police helicopter comes by and throws down a rope. "Climb up or you'll drown," the policeman yells. "No, I'm a devout man, God will save me," Joe replies.
Soon, Joe drowns.
He arrives in heaven and challenges God. "Why didn't you help me?"
"What do you mean?" God says. "I did help. I sent a neighbor, a firefighter and a helicopter."
It's about being open to the Divine, attentive to how the universe is manifesting itself and fluid enough in how we think and are willing to act that we can intera
I guess the thing is I don't see the miracle happening for others. I can sit and count them by the dozens in my own life. For all the challenges I am deeply aware that I have been kept safe and given opportunity to get through situations with far less difficulty than others experience. Really I get that. Time and again it happens for me, but I see so many for whom it just doesn't happen. I get it that some of those people embrace the drama, ignore both hope and opportunity, and see only the darkness. But I have met some people for whom the opportunity just doesn't seem to be there. they don't seem to get the openings that I do to try to change things or the change they try to make fails miserably. I just5 don't see how what I'm doing is all that different from others. God(s) know I have enough difficulty with having faith it shouldn't work for me but time and again it does. I guess I'm trying to figure out how I do it so I can help others do it for themselves. I don't see how I'm any better or worse than the next average joe.
ReplyDeleteIn the Information Age, science and technology have relegated the mystical and marvelous to hokey religions and ancient myths. All too often, the miraculous is either denied to have occurred at all (pix or it didn't happen), ascribed to luck, fate or explained away with 'hand-waving science' (the sort of popular science that is commonly poorly researched and even more poorly understood).
DeleteI have written before about giving the Spirit 'wiggle room', that is to be open to and aware of the infinite possibilities of the Divine working in the world and, given that, to be ready to co-create with the Divine when the opportunity presents itself. I believe the key here is the co-creation aspect, which....crap, that's going to have to be a separate post as there's too much to explain in comments.
So, some people aren't open to the possibility of a Divine, others are actively ignoring/denying the possibility of miracles. Still others aren't paying attention or are only looking for a specific type of response.
We are all unique reflections of the Divine, so we are all different yet the same. Better or worse are subjective, qualitative labels which help divide and, at base, are of questionable value.