Wonder Being - Katie

          I recently saw the movie, Miracles from Heaven (highly recommend). It's the story of a young girl who experiences an inexplicable cure from a debilitating and life threatening illness after falling 30 feet out of a tree. God certainly does work in mysterious ways. In any case, at the end of the movie, the girl's mom (played by a fantastic Jennifer Garner) quotes Albert Einstein, "There are only two ways to live your life, one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle." Hard to know which side of the equation Einstein was on, since he did not believe in a personal God, or perhaps any God at all. Regardless, it's always been one of my favorite quotes because the idea that everything is a miracle got me past my miracle policing stage. As soon as miracles are censored, this one is and that one isn't, then we're no longer in charge of our own signs and wonders. If I've learned anything about miracles, it's that they are most definitely in the eyes of the beholder.

          A couple of years ago, I wrote our newsletter about 'wondering', a nice action-verb involving some combination of imagination and curiosity. Einstein's "everything is a miracle" makes me think more in terms of wonderment. Finding oneself in a state of wonder, suspended in time and in the midst of something that forces you to stop and pay attention; kind of like making the shift from a human doing to a human being: a wonder being. Being open and available enough to notice that miracles abound. 

          When was the last time you stood outside on a pitch dark night, looked up and marveled at the explosion of stars, felt insignificant and awestruck at the the same time? As spring emerges, there is ample opportunity to get lost in color and sound and warmth, the twinkling and sprinkling of miracles are everywhere. But it's the miracles that are subtler, that emanate from a deep place of goodness found in each of us, that if we are not accustomed to noticing that which isn't in front of our noses, will surely be missed. Someone who doesn't have the time but takes the time, giving or receiving the benefit of the doubt, a smile between strangers on the subway; we human beings can be wonder beings for each other. 

          Einstein also said the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. "He...who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." Sounds like he was a miracle man to me. (Katie)