Recognizing Miracles When They Happen

This afternoon in our Sunday School course of study the topic was Miracles. The discussion started off by asking members of the class which miracles recorded in the scriptures come to mind first; acknowledging that the greatest miracle of all was the resurrection of our Lord. Several hands went up to remind us of the time Lazarus was brought back from the dead, the new wine from canisters of water, the fishes and the loaves and so on.

My own favorite is found in John, chapter 9 (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/john/9 ) where Jesus heals a man, blind from birth. There are many lessons found in this one parable; that miracles are tools for teaching, that faith is required for miracles, that they stand as a witness against those who refuse to acknowledge God’s Hand in all righteousness and to identify Jesus as the Son of God.

We talked about modern day miracles, those occasions when something out of the ordinary could be identified such as the miracle of the sea gulls when the crickets were devouring the crops in the early Salt Lake Valley threatening to leave them without stores for the winter and other fascinating stories. Some of the class members freely shared individual stories in which their faith and prayers were answered to help heal a family member or loved one. The fact is, miracles occur all around us; it’s up to us to recognize the Lord’s Hand in our affairs and to extend our gratitude openly for those blessings.

I held my piece, not wanting to blurt out something which I would not have time to properly explain. I’d written down my thoughts regarding one incident which happened many years ago while acting in the capacity of police officer and posted it to my blog in June of 2005. I wrote it mostly as a “police war story”( link provided in title bar ); however, it clearly indicates my acknowledgement of divine intervention and I believe the word “miracle” applies.

I acknowledge the miracle of the heavens, that the planets have their set times and even my limited knowledge of the mathematics required to explain these celestial events doesn’t preclude the fact that their respective orbits were engineered rather than randomly achieved; to believe in such a ridiculous “coincidence” goes far past the realm of probability. I’m grateful for sunsets and sunrises full of every color imaginable, the wonders of all creation from the smallest microbe and to include each and every living being to be found. All of these testify of a God who loves and cares for each of us and to the miracles which have been provided for those with only the faith of a mustard seed.