Given the fact that you are reading these words, it is safe to assume that you are searching for God‘s. Though this search is fundamentally positive, it comes with a certain danger: we tend to look for God in extraordinary occurrences, fantastic experiences, and miraculous miracles. Yes, the presence of God does occasionally show up in displays of the supernatural. Most often, however, God is present to us in the ordinary experiences of day-to-day life. Think about this: the food you and I eat is essentially sunlight that has been condensed into a fruit or a vegetable through the process of photosynthesis. When we consume these foods, they are metabolized into us; they become us on a bodily level. Essentially, our bodies are condensed sunlight. Isn’t this process that we take for granted actually miraculous?
In today’s Gospel from Mark 6:1-6 Jesus returns to his hometown and finds himself in this awkward situation: “He was unable to perform any mighty deeds because his townspeople lacked faith.” They lacked faith because they were familiar with Jesus; they knew his parents and family. To them, he was merely the carpenter’s son whom they took for granted. They failed to see his divinity, just as we often fail to see the divinity around and within us. Everything about our existence is miraculous! Our lives are permeated with God‘s presence and a participation in the divine life. The essential point is this: when we fail to recognize the everyday miracles that unfold in our lives, we limit what God can and wants to do for us. Yogananda tells us, “A flower is the smile of God. The faith that can move mountains is not mental belief, but our willingness to smile back at God.” Today, smile at God, and don’t stop.
Divine Mother,
Help me remember that
Everything about my existence
Is miraculous.
