Seek and You Shall Find
With March, comes daylight savings time and the opportunity to see things more clearly once the darkness of winter fades. Joan writes this month that the ongoing search for meaning or for finding things we have lost along the way, reminds us that faith, though unseen, is not ethereal, but something we must commit to with intention. May the coming of Spring bring us all a renewal of spirit.
Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.
Joan and Katie
The other day while at the gym, I lost my car keys, which meant that unless somebody was generous enough to drive me home I was stuck five miles away. I searched everywhere or at least so I thought. Friends helped and yet there was nothing; it was as if the keys had disappeared forever. In my heart of hearts, I knew that was ridiculous - things just don’t evaporate into thin air. And yet my key was nowhere to be found. I went back later that evening and again no key. I am nothing if not compulsive, so I went back the next morning - no luck then either. Monday morning found me back at the gym and after my class, I went for my usual 5-mile ride on the exercise bike. When I went to adjust the seat, there was my key, it’s leather strap wrapped surreptitiously around the adjustment bar under the seat. My feelings of relief, foolishness, and thanksgiving were all given equal measure.
In the end, my search was a metaphor for finding faith. Some things are taken for granted, like the key I need to start my 21-year-old car. In its absence, the world is not as it should be. I think that is the way of faith as well. Sometimes we think faith is something we can do without. Like with the lost key, I had options, I could’ve walked home, taken an Uber, or in the future just use my extra key. All was not lost; life would go on. But it wasn’t as gratifying. I knew something was missing that to me was important and felt so silly for having lost something valuable.
Without faith, we can go on as well. As Annie sings, "The sun will come up tomorrow...", but it's not the same. Something key (pun intended) is lost. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Writing books on miracles restored my faith, a faith I hadn't really realized was lost - but perhaps worse, it was stuck. I thrived on the stories others shared that reaffirmed my faith in a Divine Being. And the words of Saint Julian of Norwich, "that all will be well" helped me find a faith that is personal, not rote; living and growing rather than stagnant in old beliefs. Faith is not static and unlike the key, faith is not binary, we don't have it or not. We need to tend to faith, to help nurture it and make it grow. Perhaps this is really what the seasons of Lent and Ramadan are really about...renewal and growth, a time of seeking and finding with our faith revitalized.
At the end of our lives perhaps having faith is one of the things that matters most. Seeking and growing faith is what we’re called to do as we live our everyday lives. As Saint Timothy said, "I have finished the race. I have kept the faith." I hope I can say the same. (Joan)
Miracle Moment Challenge: Life Saver
If you found out you had a week to live, what are the first three things you would do? When the reprieve comes, is there anything you would now change?