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He insisted that he didn’t believe in miracles. I think he thought he was going to rile up some ire in me on the subject. He didn’t.
It actually reminded me of a time when I attended a very expensive banquet where lobster was served. I found myself seated next to a gentleman who did not like lobster and proceeded to tell me that he found it distasteful, not only in flavor but also in the cruelty involved in acquiring them. I listened intently and then asked him if he would like me to remove the nasty presence from his plate. He agreed–and I ended up eating a double portion.
I was very grateful to be seated next to a non-believer.
I do believe in miracles. But my particular form of faith about them may be a bit disconcerting to some of you. I don’t think that miracles are the direct intervention of the spirit of God in our lives, but rather, that miracles happen when we finally awaken our own spirits to provide benefit, insight, guidance and treasure to ourselves.
Truthfully, human beings are not as complicated as we make them out to be. We are a collision of three forces, melting into a fourth: they are what we feel, what we know, and what we want that actually congeal into what we believe.
I know religionists would hope that what we believe would actually change what we feel, know and want, but honestly, I don’t think our Creator made us that way. This is why so many people have so many different beliefs about varying things. Their particular rendition of feeling, knowing and wanting generates a somewhat unique belief system.
So it is important to realize that the end result of our process of feeling, knowing and wanting is a spiritual force–or else a weak, dormant, empty cave. In other worsds, if we don’t feel much, refuse to learn and lose our desire, it’s rather doubtful that some sort of spiritual renaissance is going on inside us.
I believe that miracles happen when we have purified our emotions by speaking them aloud instead of hiding them; we have included science, technology and wisdom in learning what is available for our time, and we have challenged our wants and whittled them down to our real desires instead of our passing infatuations.
What this reveals is a spirit that we can trust. That spirit will begin to come to life within us and produce gentle nudgings to pursue certain activities, projects and ideas.
Trust the gentle nudgings.
Yes, when I purify my emotions by sharing them, I learn instead of assuming that I know everything, and in the process I come up with real needs in my life instead of copying what everybody else is doing, I can begin to believe that those inclinations that come to me are my spirit leading me to miraculous horizons.
Some people call it “following your gut.” Others refer to it as “divine inspiration.” There are those who contend it is actually “hearing the voice of God.” But it is rarely as dramatic as all that. It is truly a still, small voice inside us, whispering a possibility that we may wish to pursue. I have learned to listen to those gentle nudgings.
This is what I call the “when” of being spiritual. We spend too much time discussing “why.” It is ridiculous to have great debates on the “what” of spirituality, when none of us have ever been beyond the grave. “How” is even more comical.
But “when?” Now there is spirituality.
- When I feel the need to give to a stranger … just do it.
- When friends comes to mind … pick up the phone and call them.
- When I’m trying to remember a song … the words must be important.
- When I nearly have an accident … it could be a heads up, a warning about my lack of attention.
- When I find an extra ten dollars in my pants pocket … be prepared to bless someone.
- When I have a dream that touches my heart … share it, use it or make contact with someone who was included.
- When I hear a great idea … write it down.
- When I see someone do something magnificent … tell somebody else about it so it doesn’t die,
- When I realize I’m watching something on television that’s boring or drawing energy from my being … turn it off.
- When I feel compelled to give someone a hug … embrace him.
- When I feel like laughing … don’t restrain.
- When I feel like crying … let it flow.
- When I see that someone is left in a corner by himself … find him.
- When I wonder if something could be done … find something to do.
- When I am nudged … move forward.
These are the miracles of life. Desiring God to heal a cancerous tumor is well worth using our faith, and a great reason for prayer. But four years earlier, following the gentle nudgings of the spirit to quit smoking cut down on eating or exercise more is the true miracle.
I do not believe that God’s grace has limits, but I think I should conduct my spiritual life as if it does. He wants His children to become spirited–without constantly needing to be bailed out of jail for failure to enact the principles.
The gentle nudgings are those opportunities that come our way because we have learned to take what we feel, what we know and what we want–and create a belief that is believable to us. It is the “when” that causes us to win.
You might righteously ask me how often my gentle nudgings turn into actual, obvious spiritual miracles. After an ongoing life of trial and error, I can report that about fifty per cent of the time I see evidence of intervention. And that means that this simple concept has provided me twice the blessing I would have in comparison to sitting around in a prayer room waiting for God to do my work for me.
“And God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul…”
Exactly. And that soul comes to life when we follow the gentle nudgings that have come to us from our spirit because we have cleansed our hearts, opened our minds and purified our desires–to create a spirit we can trust.
It is the when win. When you feel it, trust what you have created to lead you to beautiful, gentle nudgings of miracles.
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An astute fellow he was indeed.
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