Enabling Miracles

Back in the early 90s, I was walking home from my client on Wall St. when I came upon a baby bird on the sidewalk.  It had fallen about 20 feet from a small nest in an alcove on the side of the building and was chirping incessantly.

I could have walked past it.  Mother Nature has its own cycle of life and death and besides, what do I know about taking care of baby birds?

I could not, however, walk away from this little thing chirping like crazy.  I called someone I knew who took care of animals and she explained where I could find baby bird food, how I could feed it, etc.

Gathering it up, I took it home (avoiding the stares of everyone watching me on the PATH train as it chirped like crazy all the way home).  Over the next little while, we fed it a mixture of “worm stuff” from a water dropper and raised it to be a healthy bird.

My son named the bird “Wheelbarrow” (because it rhymes with sparrow, of course).  Here he is with Wheelbarrow.

When it came time to release him, we brought him outside, opened his cage and he flew off.

While I was sad to see him go, we knew we had done the right thing.

My neighbour came outside and we struck up a conversation.  Somewhere along the way, I was making a point and happened to stick my finger out.  Out of nowhere, Wheelbarrow flew over and landed on my finger.

My neighbour was shocked and stared at me as if I was Dr. Doolittle or the Messiah Himself.  I laughed and explained the history of Wheelbarrow, made a small motion with my hand and Wheelbarrow flew off.

Later, my neighbour confessed that he had been struggling with a personal issue and was looking for a sign that God was at work around him.  When he saw me with the bird, this was the sign that he needed that he would be ok.

This was the miracle that he sought and he moved forward with his Life with renewed confidence.

I’ve participated in a few miracles as of late and for some reason his comments came back to me today and I got to thinking.

If I had walked past the bird, it would have died and the moment between my neighbour and myself would not have manifested.  The miracle he sought would not have happened either (at least not in the way it did).

And this thought reminded me that sometimes, to witness a miracle for ourselves or others, we need to be more open to fully participating in Life and following our instinct even when we don’t know where Life is taking us.

Especially when we don’t know where it is taking us.

I can’t tell you how many beautiful places and people I have found over the years because I got lost somewhere and instead of trying to retrace my steps, I savored the moment and kept going.

When we are invited to trust our instinct, even if we don’t know why, we need to answer the call with a resounding “yes” - even if others tell us not to.

Miracles are all around us

When we are invited to participate in or create a miracle (unbeknownst to us at the time), unless we say “yes”, the opportunity passes us by.  The interesting thing is that the opportunity may manifest now or much later and by saying “no”, we will never know the potential that never came to fruition.

The world we are in faces challenging times, fraught with greed, war, indifference, ignorance, apathy, hunger, poverty, homelessness, joblessness and politicians who don’t care (yes, they deserve their own category).

However, even in the most difficult of times, there have always been stories of people who either witnessed, participated in or were blessed by miracles and overcame the worst circumstances possible to create a better Life for themselves or others.

And I can’t help but think that many of these miracles came about because someone answered the call to participate in one, not knowing at the time where the call would lead.

I know in my own Life, some of the greatest things that have ever happened in my Life occurred because I was able to get out of my own way to allow the miracle to take place.  Ego, stubbornness and my belief that I controlled everything in my world were all things that needed to be toned down in myself in order for the miracle to be given a chance to grow.

For many of us, when we look back at our lives, everything seems to fit so perfectly.

Is this a product of randomness?  I doubt it.

I suspect there are a few miracles sprinkled in there, even if they are not immediately apparent.

Unleashing the miracles

The potential for miracles is all around us.

The need for miracles for many who struggle is stronger than ever.

Our potential as human beings is unlimited once we get past our own limited vision for ourselves and others.

I wonder what would happen if we allowed all three of these things to come together.

I wonder ……..

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS  Wheelbarrow came back to our house for the next couple of years and nested close by, landing beside us when we went outside.  It’s always nice to know the “kids” remember home. :-)