Teach Her to See the Miracles

MIRACLE: an event which neither the forces of nature — nor the natural powers of man can produce, and which must, therefore, be referred to a supernatural agency (Fisher 1900, 9).

If you’re a word nerd like me, consider the root of the word miracle. It’s a Latin root, mirus, and it means “wonderful.” The word mirari means “to wonder or to look at”.

It’s where we get the word mirror.

I’ve always liked that because, in my opinion, to really experience a miracle, you have to SEE it.

As a mom, the most miraculous time of my day is Rooney’s bedtime, and it is not for reasons you might think. I dialed in my girl’s nighttime routine a while ago (for the most part).

Once she was in that big girl bed, things got magical because we could lie down next to each other, side by side. I could rub her back and ask her what songs she wanted me to sing. In between requests for show tunes and Christmas songs, she’d ask for old hymns like How Great Thou Art (shout out to Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill for the most EPIC performance of that song. Ever). We’d snuggle up and I’d start in on the first verse:

O LORD, MY GOD, WHEN I IN AWESOME WONDER
CONSIDER ALL THE WORDS THY HANDS HAVE MADE

I SEE THE STARS, I HEAR THE ROLLING THUNDER

THY POWER THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE DISPLAYED

That song is about miracles. It’s about the evidence that God puts in our path to show us who He is and what He can do. And at bedtime, lying next to her, there are no distractions.

It’s calm. It’s dark.

It’s quiet, and there’s nothing pulling my attention away.

It’s there where I can consider my life and my blessings with the right amount of clarity.

Right there is where I gain the much-needed perspective that maybe I lost earlier in the day.

And it’s miraculous.

A lot of the time, the work God is doing in the world is hard to understand. Additionally, the ways He shows up BIG for His children are so many that it’s impossible to assign a number to them.

If we aren’t careful, we start to fill our lives with distractions: things that compete for our attention. When that happens, our gaze shifts. We take our eyes off the miracles.

Moms, can we show our girls how to create calm, quiet moments for themselves: chances to stop, look, and consider God’s “power throughout the universe displayed”? Together, can we remember to look for and truly see our miracles?

CHALLENGE: Grab a journal. Take inventory of the miracles you’ve experienced. Set a goal this week of sharing at least ONE of them with your daughter. Tell her about a time when God showed up in a “wonderful” way.