“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

What is a miracle? This morning I've asked the people in my family this question. It surprises me to hear such very different perspectives under the same roof! The question goes well with grits and rainey Southern mornings.

I think a miracle is "an event" where a soul experiences the presence of God ... via our physical senses, or our intellect, or spiritually. I think a miracle is any time or place where we "walk" mindfully, like the first people did in the garden, with God. It seems like we have to quietly match pace with God for this walk, and I feel that this is what TNH is expressing. To walk on the earth, in this fallen state, wasn't the original design. It seems like communion was God's intent. Okay ... I've wandered to my definition: A miracle is any anything whereby mankind shares communion with God.

My husband says a miracle is an act whereby God expresses his authority over natural laws. He cited Biblical miracles like Moses with the plagues and the rod he struck the rock with. "Are births miracles?" I asked and he said he didn't believe so, because births are natural events. His definition seems to be very textbook ... I've looked up definitions today.

Because I believe God spun the universe in to motion, I not sure the natural law deal is satisfying to me. Natural laws are God's laws within that context and "miraculous" must be at his discretion ... Maybe top shelf laws so to speak ... Not laws which break or contradict other laws.

The leper was healed. He was unclean, and their laws required him to maintain his distance from people and to announce his uncleanness whenever someone was within earshot. Was he calling out "unclean, unclean" when Jesus came by ... Idk ... The text says he called out to Jesus and that Jesus healed him ... He said something like, If you are willing, you are able to heal me. I think the story of a miracle, like this story, tell a lot of stories. Yeah, seems to demonstrate Jesus authority over natural law, as miracles are defined, but there are other stories here that are actually relevant to me ... This is my miracle too ... All the miracles of Christ carry a meaning which I think is personal to each of us. According to the laws laid out in the Old Testament, touching a leper made one unclean ... They took the uncleanness of the leper upon themselves. That is where this particular miracle expands ... I recognised that I am spiritually unclean ... He didn't make a rule whereby I had to call that out to everyone, but he did make a way to come by me and I did ask Him to heal me ... And he took upon himself, my sins and the sins of us all ... To me, for me, for all of us, that is a miracle. He came and made a way for us to become clean ... and physical death loses it's sting right there. A miracle I can't see. Natural laws weren't involved beyond the first layer of this story, and yet the miracle penetrates through eternity.