There is an old joke about a guy who is on top of his house with flood waters rising all about. A man in a rowboat happens by and asks the man to climb aboard. He replied, "No, thanks, my faith in God will save me." Next, a helicopter passes overhead and drops him a rope ladder. "No, thanks, my faith in God will save me." And so on and so forth. Of course, the guy drowns. Up in heaven, he asks God why he didn't save him and God replies, "What's the matter with you? First I sent you a boat, then I sent you a helicopter...."
I forget what, exactly, was this impetus for this - perhaps a series of discussions Sharon & I had about how people tend to make their own luck - but Sharon decided, a little under a month ago (when we were facing out latest monetary crisis of realizing all of the water supply pipes in our house will need replaced), that she would stop sort of wafting through life, reacting to disaster and challenge as they arose, but instead begin actively seeking out 'miracles,' with a goal of a miracle a day. Mind you - this is not 'miracle' in the religious sense, though maybe the cosmic sense. And some would be as small as discovering Minnesota-grown apples on sale for $1.19/lb, but miracles on a larger scale would certainly be welcome, and even expected.
So far, it seems to have been an unqualified success. A lot of minor tribulations of life seem to be sorting themselves out, but the crowning achievement of 'miracles' has been what's going to happen with Lucy's $485 month tuition for school, which starts next month: Sharon has been hired on again to do a monthly naturalist program for $100 a shot (knocking tuition cost cown to, effectively, $385/month). We just also just made our last payment on the Saturn (minus another $129 - down to $256). Then, the biggest 'miracle' of all: in the spirit of this new endeavor, Sharon actually filled out a need-based scholarship application & submitted it to the school. Exceeding our wildest expectations, they granted us a $135/month scholarship. Essentially, we have to find a way to come up with $121 beyond what we were finding in the budget through the majority of the summer. We can totally do that.
Thank heavens for small miracles.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
I really liked this post. I think I've come across thinking in this way, looking for small details and how they can shape life. However lately, particularly lately with our new car payment, etc. I've become more overwhelmed. Yours is a good perspective.
Miracles are all around us every day. However, most of us are too comsumed by ourselves to recognize them.
I am very excited to see what miracles you witness in coming posts.
There is a fairly fashionable 'program' (for lack of a better term) out there right now called "The Secret". When you wade through all the quasi-mystical theatrics surrounding it, what they're basically telling you that 'The Secret' is essentially what Sharon has been doing. Basically an overtly positive outlook and a strong belief that you make your own reality.
They don't seem to provide much detail, though they 'cite' lots of examples of people through history that knew 'the secret'.
http://www.thesecret.tv/
Aside from this, that's awesome news.
Thanks, guys. We'll ride this horse as far as it'll take us.
Post a Comment