Miracles

Today I spent the afternoon with my mom watching Hallmark Christmas movies.  It was a good afternoon.  One of the movies pleasantly surprised both of us by being clever and actually pretty good.  The other one was more typical, but still... there is something cozy and familiar about these movies that we like.

The movie that was only so-so did make me think, though.  Just a little bit.  :)  And not really about much to do with the movie.  But there was a sick grandmother, and she was talking about dying, and she said something along the lines of: "it will be a miracle if I last beyond the New Year."  And she said this without any expectation of a miracle at all.  Of course (not to ruin the movie or anything for you), a miracle does happen, although it's barely acknowledged as one.

Anyway, what it made me think about was this:  I believe in miracles.  Christians believe in miracles.  But I feel like we throw around phrases like, "it would take a miracle..." without ever having an expectation of that miracle ever taking place.  It's just kind of a part of our cultural lexicon, denoting something that is unlikely to happen.

But we should know better.  I hope that, in the future, when I say something would take a miracle, that I say it knowing that a miracle is totally possible.  If God can be born to a virgin as a human baby, then I can suspend disbelief that God cares about my life and is willing to help me.  I want to be more aware and ready for the supernatural elements of life.  Because the truth is, God works beyond my logic sometimes.  I know that he gave us the ability to think and reason, but we also really lack perspective at times.

Madeleine L'Engle is one of my favorite writers.  Here is a poem that she wrote about this season, summing up what I am trying to say much more eloquently and sweetly than I am able to:

"This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild
Had Mary been filled with reason
there'd have been no room for the child."