According to DQ: Miracles

Tuesday morning.

Family devotion.

I asked Bumble-Bee to suggest a praise song so we could all sing along. In his usual fashion, he carried his drums sticks and began banging on his drums as he sang his second favourite song:

“You’re the God of miracles, signs and wonders.
We believe in your power, we believe in your power.”

We all sang together.  

Every morning, Bumble-Bee gives us two choices: “Awesome” or “Miracle Worker“, and no matter how many times we sing these songs, he’ll never tire from raising them.

So this time, I decided to ask if my 3-year-old knew what miracles meant, but before he could respond, his ‘knowing-much’ sister jumped right in with an answer:

“‘Miracles’ is doing something for others.”

I couldn’t dispute her answer, but I looked on for some more explanation, and she offered one:

“Like washing their eyes when they can’t see so they can see, and making them walk.”

Of course, I knew exactly what stories she was referring to, but my heart was stuck at the point of her first response, so I wrote it down before I forgot it.

“‘MIRACLES’ IS DOING SOMETHING FOR OTHERS.” – Drama Queen

I’ve pondered long on her answer. It’s not new. There are many inspirational quotes out there that point to the same message. There have been many teachings from pulpits reminding listeners to consider the little things and see the beauty in all that is around us. But we know the human condition: Greed, Jealousy, Lack of Contentment, Comparison, Ingratitude, Myopia, and all the many things that deter us from seeing the everyday miracles that happen around us. 

Yet there is something about DQ’s response that makes it different than all the others I have heard:

IT CAME FROM A 4-YEAR-OLD.

I don’t think she has heard any of the sermons and quotes we have heard or read, but out of the purity of her simple love for Jesus, Holy Spirit helped her understand what many have tried to comprehend: The reason Jesus came.

From her understanding of the miracles Jesus performed while he was on earth, he was just doing things for others to make their lives better. Isn’t that the reason Jesus came? To make our lives better? We who were lost in sin and subject to death are now called righteous and have eternal life because he gave his life for ours – the greatest miracle of all.

When Jesus brought the widow’s son back to life, he was just doing something for her that would make her life easier. Yet in that story, there were others performing miracles of their own – those who carried the dead boy to give him a proper burial. They could have left the widow on her own to bury her son, but they helped lighten her load, they made it easier for her, and their procession drew Jesus’ attention.

How about when Jesus fed the five thousand? He saved all that lot from starving and the stress of going to town to buy some food. Life. Easy. Yet in that story, there was someone else who performed a miracle – the little boy who shared his lunch – so that others would have something to eat too, and so Jesus could have something to multiply.

When we pay attention, we realise that there are millions of people performing miracles around us every day. From the medical practitioners who take extra unpaid shifts to tend to a patient or the school teacher that stays back to explain a puzzling task to a student, or the teenager that takes the bag of groceries from the old lady and helps her cross the street, to the parent who stays up all night watching their sick child even though they have to work in the morning.

Miracles abound.

But the lesson is learned when we all consciously decide to be miracle-workers just like Jesus. I’ve watched my kids work miracles for me, like when DQ takes BB by the hand and tells him they need to leave mummy alone because she is tired and needs to rest. I have many miracle-working friends who in the midst of their busy schedules still accept to babysit other people’s children so they can run errands or attend to other tasks. Or is it the miracle of waiting at the car park at DQ’s school to watch the sleeping twins at the back of a friend’s car while she goes on to pick up DQ and her daughter – working miracles for each other.

You don’t have to wait till you have faith enough to alleviate world hunger – C’mon, work a miracle today, do something for someone!