Archive for Miracles

Miracles of Heaven

Acts_of_kindnessThe movie Miracles of Heaven reminded me of something I had forgotten in busy traffic and alarm clocks. As our day unfolds, it is easy to get caught in the mayhem, but do we ever stop and notice those little moments of humanity? With news stations, television shows, bosses, clients, doctors, etc. blaring bad news across our brains, it is a miracle we even get up in the morning.

Think about it – At the same time you’re cussing at the person who cut you off in traffic, there is a child in a hospital room – a family’s face stuck in anguish and fear and it is the little things that matter and bring calm such as the brother lying in bed with his sick sibling, the mother touching her son’s hand, the nurse who kneels down and talks eye to eye with the child in the hospital bed. We can all attest life is not an easy roller-coaster, but in these moments aren’t we reminded humanity still exists? It can be the child wheeling another child down the hall, a young girl who stops her car to allow a family of ducks to walk across the street, or the garbage man who waves and says hello to everyone he sees.

Some say these little signs of humanity don’t make a difference, but I disagree. The five dollar cup of coffee you buy the person behind you may only be five dollars, but perhaps the person behind you just found out the worst news of their lives. Perhaps they found out there is nothing more medicine can do. In my opinion, little signs of humanity is what makes life survivable or livable. It is what keeps us real and what can mend a broken body or heart. They say a positive attitude and smiling is one of the best cures and many times a small gesture or small sign of humanity is all we need to put a smile on our face. Think about your life. Think about a time when someone did something nice and unexpected for you – how did this make you feel?

If it made you feel yellow and gooey inside – then you will relate to the story of Joe – a greeter at a local Walmart. For over 20 years, his voice was the warm cup of coffee many people needed to jump start their day. Like the show Cheers, Joe knew everyone by name. Then one day he reached out and gave a customer a hug which was against store policy. He was automatically fired. Most likely you have the same reaction as the town, “outraged”, but Joe said please don’t write mean letters instead show gratitude. So in Joe’s honor, the town began a day of gratitude called “Be Like Joe.” The whole town corralled around this event and did acts of gratitude and kindness all day like Joe. After the event, several people talked about the event being like the Grinch where their hearts grew ten times that day. They said who would have guessed opening doors, smiling, carrying packages, etc. could change the face of a town? Now every year they repeat the “Be Like Joe” day.

Joe’s story makes me wonder. Could signs of humanity really be signs from God? Signs to “not give up”, signs to be the best “you”- you can be, or signs of love and gratitude.  The “Miracles of Heaven” movie does a good job of portraying little things which actually amount to big things. At the end, these little things flow before the screen and you suddenly say – “AHA”. Without giving too much away about the movie what touched me was not only the story, but the story inside the story. The little signs or miracles from heaven.

This made me think – why can’t we all be like Joe? Why can’t we all be angels whether we are nurses and doctors in the hospital or people on the street. When volunteering in the hospital, I personally saw how the effects of children sharing crayons, volunteers stopping by with magazines for parents, and dogs wagging their tails could bring a smile to the grey. I think sometimes we all concentrate on the grey too much and forget how lucky we are to live another day and how lucky we are to be able to share life with others. Without being too Pollyana – wouldn’t life be better if we concentrated more on the yellow then grey? Without a doubt, life sometimes gives us giant lemons, but what if we made our own lemonade? What if we saw sunrises even in sunsets? What if we wanted to help others instead of just drift through the day? Do you ever stop for a moment and think how am I helping this world be a better place? More and more, there is more grey in this world then yellow, but one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to not try to control something you can’t control. Unfortunately, you can’t control lemons, but you can control kindness and little miracles from heaven. You can control your actions, attitude, and what you do. You can add sugar to lemons. In order for the crazy of life to stop, it’s all of our jobs to make lemonade.  It’s as easy as doing at least, one miracle from heaven a day. Are you up to the task? I have plenty of sugar.