Many of you wonder why miracles happen to others and not to you. I used to feel the same way. Now I realize that it's all a matter of perspective and a choice. Tonight I experienced a major miracle with lessons involved.
I decided to hard boil some eggs, something I don't normally do. Usually I'm cooking something I'm going to eat right away. Therefore I'm in the kitchen while the food is cooking. This time I intended to use them later to make tuna salad, and forgot about them. A friend had recently given me a can of tuna, and I was looking forward to using it. While the water was coming up to a boil, I got involved in something else. So one lesson is to keep my mind in the present, on the task at hand. After I got distracted I decided to take a half hour power nap. I set the alarm and when it went off I reset it - twice. One of those times I noticed a funny smell, but dismissed it. I was so sleepy that it simply didn't bother me enough to wake me fully. Another lesson here is not to get so burnt out from mismanaging my time that I could be that easily distracted, or that sleepy during the day. Finally, about two minutes before the alarm went off, the smoke alarm awoke me.
The biggest lesson of all was the miracle and what went into it. When I moved into this house a year ago, I located the smoke detectors. Then I forgot about them until last week. Every time I got to sleep last week, they started a soft beeping. It annoyed me enough to notice but not enough to get up, and only happened a few times. The noise persisted all week until I relocated the detectors and put in new batteries. Thanks to the smoke detectors, I just had a little mess to clean up. The fan was handy and it's not too cold out, so I was able to get most of the smoke out without chilling the house. It was scary in retrospect but just a bit of a mess to clean up - mostly the pan. However, I have a product that really works on that too, so it will be fine.
There are many different ways of looking at this incident. Whether you detect miracles in your life depends on your perspective. And the more you recognize them, the more you receive them because you're open and expecting them. Some would have blamed the friend for the can of tuna. I wouldn't have been boiling eggs if he hadn't given me tuna. Some would have been dwelling on what could have happened. That either leads to excess worry, or stress, or trauma, or self-doubts. One person I know would be reiterating that his memory just isn't any good anymore, which is self-perpetuating. Yet he doesn't nothing to change that - only complains about it despite knowing there's a safe herbal supplement he can take to give his body what it needs to help.
I immediately recognized that I was saved by God. I realized immediately that I'd just replaced the batteries, and that therefore the alarm sounded just in time to prevent real disaster. I would have awakened before the whole house was on fire, so I wasn't saved from death or injury. But there could have been damage to the house that would have caused me to lose my home, since it's a rental. For us, that would have been true disaster. Part of how I know it was God was that the alarms weren't reacting in character for a low battery. Usually they beep much more frequently and annoyingly when it's time to change the battery. This was just enough to get my attention, only at night, not during the day. I know enough now to understand that it's God's Hand when these unusual things happen. I also know now how He works, sets things in motion ahead of our needs. And to me, that's nothing short of miraculous! I am so very grateful. And, I'm doing my part. I paid attention and replaced the batteries. I did it in a timely manner. The reason it took all week was that I forgot there was a second one and kept fooling with the batter on the first one. I'm also doing my part in that I've taken note of the lessons of staying in the moment and not getting so burnt out. Miracles are also less likely to happen if we aren't paying attention and doing our part.
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