
My former colleague gave me this booklet containing daily reflections on Bible readings. I’ve made it a habit to read said booklet before I go off to bed, in the hope that whatever i read there would somehow give me a good sleep. Today, I read something that totally jumped out of the book and into my mind. It may be one of the most powerful things I’ve ever read and should be my mantra for life. The message was simple:“God doesn’t owe us any miracles”Think about it real hard. In times that we’re really down and we feel absolutely no hope inside, what do we ask from The One Up There? A miracle. That somehow that last second shot from half-court will go through the hoops and give your team the championship. That somehow that impassioned speech you gave your boss will result in you being promoted, with a higher pay. That somehow the medicine you give to a sick relative will prevent death. That somehow whatever you’ve lost will come back to you.We pray for a miracle because we want things to go our way and we can go on our merry little lives, because we think we know that’s what He wants for us. We even go on bargaining mode just to get what we ask for, right? “I’ll give up my vices if you give me this”, or “I’ll be nicer to people if You do this for me”. But really, who are we to bargain? What exactly do we have that we dare to haggle with Him for that favor?If the miracle isn’t granted, most of the time, we resent Him for not giving it to us. We become angry at the world for the circumstance we find ourselves in. But here’s the thing: what if the miracle is already there? Though it's not exactly the one that you asked for, but it’s there right under your nose the whole time. Actually, you didn’t even have to ask for it.The way I see it, He already knows what will happen to you in the long run if He gave you what you asked for. So instead, He gives you a different kind of miracle because He knows that that will be better for you. It may be a hard pill to swallow at the present, but in the future, your life will probably turn out better than you could ever hope for it to be.When you don’t get what you ask for, it doesn’t mean that miracles don’t exist. You see, the miracle when you lost the game is that you learned humility, and next time you know you have to do better. The miracle when you didn’t get that promotion is that you realize you have to work harder for it. The miracle when the medicine didn’t work is that you learn to value life and so cherish the people around you more. The miracle when you lost something is accepting that He might not have meant for it to be yours in the first place.But I think the best miracle of all after anything bad happens to you, is the fact that you’re still standing. That you still get to wake up every morning for another chance to see what He has in store for you. That you’re still alive to discover that He has something better to give you. Yes, The One Up There doesn't owe us any miracles. And yet, He gives them freely everyday. We just don't notice because we're all waiting for something big to happen in our lives. What we don't know is that we have them everyday: in the people we meet, the things we do. And maybe, just maybe, the miracle is not something we have to see. Maybe the miracle is already inside each one of us, we just have to know it and thank Him for it.