Miracles Are In the Air
Encountering and recognizing a miracle has a way of snowballing.
Once you stop and notice one, it begins to change the way you see the world.
-The Miracle Collectors
When I say "Miracles are in the air," as I often do at book events or presentations, I usually don't mean it literally, but the events of the past several weeks have shown me the error of my ways!
On January 3rd a Japan Airlines flight caught on fire after a collision with another aircraft and yet all 379 passengers and crew members escaped unscathed. The circumstances were so unbelievable that headlines called it a miracle. Yes, safety training is good, new plane design with better firewall protection around the engines is great, but really - no panic, no ego, people waiting their turn to exit the aircraft - that's pretty miraculous in today's world. It gives me hope that we humans are better than how we often are portrayed on the evening news.
And then, two days later the side of a plane "falls off" in flight. As if that's not traumatic enough, the passengers need to ride that plane back to the airport with a gaping hole in the fuselage. Never a great flyer, this would have done me in. Another miracle? While it was noted that the plane wasn't "very" high at "only" 16,000 feet, that's certainly high enough that no one would be jumping out and survive! And what about the people that were supposed to be sitting in the window and center seat next to the blown out portion of the plane? Oh, they "just happened" to be delayed and missed the flight. Coincidence, maybe; a wave of grace, for sure!
As they say, things often happen in 3s and so on January 19th when an engine caught on fire mid-flight on a 747-8 cargo plane and the pilot successfully diverted to Miami, again the M-word was used in the description of events.
To those on the planes, I suspect these were thunderbolt miracles, the kind where you shake your head and say, "Huh, what just happened? Why me? Why did I survive?" To those of us watching from afar, we think they are the lucky ones, those given another chance, a new lease on life - it's theirs for the taking.
In my mind it was not without notice that these events happened at a time when we often think of making resolutions - a change in our perspective or our actions that can help us in the New Year by addressing areas where we think we could do better. In this case, I think we just got a free Master Class. Pay attention, treat others with respect, be grateful, recognize some things are bigger than we are - and remember - miracles ARE in the air - all we have to do is look around and open our souls to receive them. (Joan)