"A miracle (from the Latin mirari, to wonder), at a first and very rough approximation, is an event that is not explicable by natural causes alone. A reported miracle excites wonder because it appears to require, as its cause, something beyond the reach of human action and natural causes."
from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
I like this definition. I think of a miracle as a wondrous event which occurs and is totally beyond my control. For me, this can be as simple as the sprouting of a seed. Sure, I may have planted the seed, kept it watered and watched expectantly, but it is not in my power to make that tiny green shoot appear.
Last week I witnessed baby wrens taking their first flight out of the nest in my bromeliads. Natural, right? Well, this was the third nest of babies these wrens hatched this year and these were the only ones who lived long enough to take flight. And the real miracle is that I happened to be looking out the window at the moment they popped out of the nest. Wow! I couldn't stop smiling for an hour. I've never seen anything like it. Those babies were sailing from tree to tree, not landing on many branches but flying right into the trunks and hanging on. How Mama and Papa kept up with them, I can't begin to imagine. That would be much worse than chasing a toddler around . (Excuse me, that would be three toddlers!) And yes, Papa does take equal responsibility for feeding the kids.
The power of love has to be a miracle. Where does it come from? The more you give away, the more you possess. What kind of weirdo accounting is that? I can't explain it and it certainly is way beyond my control. Well, not entirely. We can each create love and share it with all creatures. Send it out into the universe and who knows what might happen.
Sending love across the miles . . . .
