SINCERELY SCOTTY by Walter Scott: Miracles
Miracles
Do you believe in miracles? If you do, where do they come from? And how? I know I believe in them. And here’s why….
A religious man is on top of his roof during a great flood. Another man comes by in a boat and says, “get in, get in!” The religious man replied, “No, I have faith in God, He will grant me a miracle.”
Later the water rose up to his waist and another boat came by and the guy told him to get in again. He responded that he has faith in God and God will give him a miracle. With the water now at chest high, a third boat comes to rescue him, but he turns down the offer again ‘cause “God will grant him a miracle.”
With the water at chin high, a helicopter throws down a ladder and they tell him to get in. Mumbling with water in his mouth, he again turns down the request for help for the faith of God. He arrives at the gates of heaven with broken faith and says to St. Peter, “I thought God would grant me a miracle and I have been let down.” St. Peter chuckles and responds, “I don’t know what you’re complaining about, we sent you three boats and a helicopter!”
While somewhat humorous, the message is quite clear – God indeed does grant miracles, but many times through the skills of man. The skills of doctors, pilots, and other professions that go to make our lives better are but examples of miracles, miracles in our everyday life.
Recently a man and his wife were treating themselves to breakfast at a local authentic old diner that was sitting by a railroad track. The conversation with the locals there was as important as the food. On that particular June morning, they were greeted with a blast of hot air – the air conditioner had broken down. But the waitress was still cheerful and a man moved over a seat to allow the couple to sit together at the counter.
“So what ‘cha got going on today?” the man beside them asked in a friendly way that is usual for that place.
“We’re taking a load of shrubbery clippings to the dump and hope to make a second trip if it doesn’t rain,” the husband replied. “It’s a miracle it’s not rainy this morning,” he added gratefully since the area had unusually heavy rain during the spring and early summer.
“Oh, every day is a miracle,” said the stranger sitting beside them. The lady sat and thought, “what a nice poetic present for the day,” and sent thanks to God for the blessing of the new day.
Every day is indeed a miracle. Being interested as well as having worked in the aerospace industry, I can testify that every day is a miracle. Few people realize how narrow the balance is on the planet earth between supporting life and not supporting life. I won’t go into all the details for that isn’t important. But none of the other planets in our solar system can support life and, so far, all the other planets observed in other systems haven’t been able to support life as we know it. Did you ever get up in the morning and say, “Thank you, God, for this day?”
One of the greatest miracles is the miracle of birth. All you have to do is ask the parents of their first newborn or for that matter, the second or third child. But also look at the miracle a doctor performs when he uses his skill to save the life of some person. Miracles occur every day in hospitals around the world.
But for a moment, let me ask, do we cheapen the “M” word by simple overuse? Couldn’t all of what I’ve been describing, be natural events and circumstances?
Doctors are learned people, babies are born every day, people are rescued all the time – by other people. Maybe, but perhaps we cheapen much of the Divine activity in this world by taking much of ordinary life for granted. Cheapen may actually be the wrong word – ignore may be a better term. We should be thanking God for every day, for, indeed, “Every day is a miracle.”
Sincerely, Scotty
