Making the Connection

Making the effort to find common ground with each other
is what allows connection to form.
-The Miracle Collectors

Regardless of the calendar, for many of us summer begins with the Memorial Day weekend. It often is a time of connection as we gather with friends and family to remember those we have lost and those who have given their lives so that others might live. This Memorial Day we pray for the well-being of all those in harm's way that they may return safely to us. Joan  took this opportunity to think about the connections that unite us and share her view on how telling each other our miracle stories helps to bring us closer.

We wish to thank Boston College and Monterey's Christ Child Society's Book Club for the opportunities to share miracle moments together.

Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.

Joan and Katie

Deepening Connection is one of my favorite parts of being a miracle collector. I love hearing the miracle stories others share and have witnessed first-hand how these stories bring us closer to each other. It is a reminder that "we owe each other a terrible loyalty" as Goethe tells us.

This month we had the pleasure of leading a miracle discussion at my alma mater Boston College in their Church in the 21st Century Faith Feeds program. After our scheduled hour-long session, the audience asked to continue the discussion the following week as they wanted more time to share their stories. And share they did...it was a new level of zoom connection and a blessing for all who participated as stories from coincidences to life-altering miracles were shared. Next up was a book club where again after reading The Miracle Collectors, the participants couldn't wait to tell their stories.

As is typical, in both of these instances people came to the discussion not only with stories from their past, but also with a new recognition of occurrences that happened as recently as that week or even that day. Things they noticed with a new perspective as they prepared their thoughts for our discussion. In each story, there was a miracle experience that brought them a renewed sense of the Divine in their lives. The stories they shared brought the individuals in the groups together in a new way and they acknowledged how relationships that were in the process of forming became that much closer.

Sharing miracle stories does just that: it allows us to form a deeper connection with each other not only in a shared  experience but in the willingness to be vulnerable and share a piece of the fabric of who we are. In my case I had a recent opportunity to chat with my son's soon to be father-in-law as he was collecting photos for a wedding video highlighting the kids' growth over the years. While we were searching through old photo albums, Brad was excited to share a story from his childhood that in the ten years of our children's dating relationship he hadn't ever thought to mention before. After reading The Miracle Collectors, he realized we had something in common besides the love our kids have for each other, and he told me his family's miracle story: When his older brother was 8, his mom took him on an all day shopping trip. He was fascinated with a blood pressure cuff he saw at one of the stores in their travels. After much cajoling, his mom bought the cuff, even though she was not a mother who generally relented to wide-eyed child requests. Brad’s brother was thrilled with his new gadget and could hardly wait to take blood pressures on everyone. He was his first subject and while he got the machine to work, he didn't understand why his BP was normal in one arm and half the value in the other. When his  parents replicated their son's findings, they marched him to their friend and neighbor who just happened to be a physician. Fortunately, he had his own BP cuff and was happy to take the child’s blood pressure. He, too, was surprised when he got the same unexpected result and arranged for further follow up. Many tests later Brad's brother was diagnosed with a rare condition of an aortic narrowing that the parents were told would have killed him by the time he was 16. Brad's brother needed open heart surgery to correct the problem and had a piece of his aorta replaced by tissue from a pig (a very big deal more than 50 years ago!). Now at 65, he is alive and well, grateful to a mother who had no idea why she agreed to buy him that sphygmomanometer that day.

Realizing that miracles do not always need to be big and bold, but can appear in a series of fortuitous coincidences, Brad is convinced that in saving his brother's life his mom was struck by the same waves of grace as the ones that saved the life of my son when an incidental finding revealed a fatal medical condition that was also able to be repaired. We had a moment of bonding, of a shared hug, and a connection with something greater than we are. It was deepening connection at its best and is truly the reason I keep chasing and collecting miracles! (Joan).