Be the Miracle
In the miracle business, we like to say that everyone has a job…
you know your job because you are the only person
with your unique set of time, place,
and experience who can do the next right thing.
-The Miracle Collectors
In New York and other northern communities, February always feels like winter will last forever. Maybe that's why Valentine's Day is a mid-month celebration of friendship and love to nudge us toward the light of Spring. Fortunately, love is bigger than any one holiday, and can be extended to the "neighbors" we may not know, as Katie writes about in this month's blog. Wherever you are, we hope you find the warmth of connection that only love can provide.
Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.
Joan and Katie
February has the literal market cornered on romantic love, but the concept of love runs deeper and is more ethereal than red roses, lovely as they are. Love is at the heart of all the great faiths, with Christianity and Judaism, especially, focused on loving thy neighbor, not always an easy task. We miracle chasers started talking about being the miracle for each other, one way to love thy neighbor, many years ago. It takes the idea of miracle – asking God or the universe to say yes to us – and flips it upside down, requiring that we say yes instead. As Regina Brett wrote in her book, Be the Miracle, “If you want to change the world in a big way, you do your small assignments with greater love, greater attention, greater passion. Simply embrace…the task you have been given.” Neighbors helping neighbors – food, clothing, water, comfort and even a place to stay – after the LA fires is a perfect example.
I recently came across an article entitled “The Angel of the Gap,” which caught my attention for obvious reasons. It was the story of an Australian man, Don Ritchie, who had recently died and was credited with saving more than160 people from jumping to their death at a raggedy, steep cliff known as the Gap, which he could see from his house. At first, he physically restrained them while his wife phoned the police, but later, he simply (and literally), talked them off the ledge. According to a local priest and friend, he had a way about him, a soft, encouraging voice and always offered a cup of tea or beer, and a warm spot to rest at his nearby home. He was not always successful, which make his attempts even more courageous, to keep showing up, to continue to try. He received gifts and letters from those he saved, sometimes years later, and was honored as a hero with various awards. The epitome of being the miracle, he was the right person, in the right place, at the right time, over, and over again.
It is easy to love one’s “neighbor” with whom we are close and, perhaps, already love or have great affection for. The biblical meaning is meant for the stranger, the outcast. Living in a big city as I do, it is not necessarily wise to help, not every “job” has your name on it. It is simply important to recognize when it makes sense to give what you have to offer, because you are in the right place at the right time and the only one who can do the next right thing, as Don Ritchie so clearly understood. Author Kent Nerburn observed, “Our lives are lived in the quiet corners of the ordinary. We build tiny hearth fires, sometimes barely strong enough to give off warmth. But to the person lost in the darkness, our tiny flame may be the road to safety, the path to salvation.” Standing up to the bully on the playground, being the lone voice when that turns the meeting, the jury, the crowd in the right direction, simply showing up with the meal or the time, or the volunteering. We all have opportunities that have our name on them. Since most of us, (Joan and I included), like to think we are in control, go ahead and be the miracle; it sure beats waiting around for a thunderbolt from the sky. (Katie)