The Miraculous Beauty of Today

I was sticky from the African heat and welcomed every rush of soothing breezes that drifted occasionally through nearby windows of the village church.

Quite sometime into the sermon as I was growing fidgety in my plastic chair, the pastor shared a rich remark about life I still haven’t been able to forget.

His voice was mellow and cracked with age as he spoke in the melodious dialect. Before the meaning of his words reached my ears, there was a pause while the younger pastor translated into English:

“Every day that I wake up and I am still alive, that is a miracle for me.”

Like quiet joy unfolding, his one sentence had unraveled this truth:

Every being on earth that ever has lived or ever will live has an incredibly special miracle—the breath of God is breathed into clay bodies that keeps them alive.

This man, wizened by several decades as well as persecution, had chosen to treasure simply waking up in the morning.

His attitude unearthed a probing question:

Do we view life this way; being alive as being a miracle?

Too often, I slide out of the wrong side of the bed grouchy and ungrateful, bogged down by the stress of life or what there is to do. My natural impulse is to tear through the day planning tomorrow or the next week, month, and year without taking a moment to steady myself, slow down, and savor now….

{Guest posting on Heather’s Ambitions today. Please visit HERE to continue reading. 😉 }