LITTLE MIRACLES

I stooped to pick up a scrap of paper this morning – a small act in a nondescript day – and it caused me to pause and wonder why I don’t truly notice more of the millions of small acts I carry out each day. The fact is that I’m doing something at every waking moment, whether walking down the hall to class, carrying a cart of trash to the road, or simply sitting down at my desk for some work – and the sad fact is that I rarely pay attention to any of these tasks. They turn my life in new directions each moment, but my mind is usually too immersed in musings and wonderings to notice them. What’s really unlucky is that these little nameless acts – all of them – have forces inside them that might remodel my life in small ways, if only I showed some honest interest in them. They are little miracles that might make me see the wonder that works its magic each moment. Picking up a scrap of paper, while apparently insignificant, requires the nimble movement of many muscles and bones, and the sunlight shining on the paper when I picked it up was flawless in its glows and colors. It was a tiny task done in a moment, but a miracle nonetheless -- one of countless marvels I bring about each day with hardly a notice. Typing on a keyboard, glancing up on a gray day, doing the dishes in a silver sink – all are wonders I wish I could appreciate and praise more often.