What I Learned This Weekend: Ordinary Miracles

In the midst of the chaos of Christmas, we get so caught up in the preparations for celebrating the day & sometimes overlook the miracles that happened the day Christ was born.

What are miracles? They are situations that happen by divine or supernatural intervention. In other words, when God reaches down and does great work in our lives. 

The miraculous is done:

• without discrimination - who did the angels come to first? The shepherds - the 'unclean' in their society. They weren't able to worship in the temple, weren't trustworthy in the other people's eyes, and therefore weren't worthy of consideration. At the other end of the status spectrum, God told the wise men - important kings, revered by all. Throw in Mary and Joseph and you see every level of society participating in this miracle.
• according to God's plan, not ours. God did not fulfill the prophecies in the way the Jewish people expected. Jesus came in, not like the ferocious lion, but like a quiet lamb in a barn. Because He did not arrive on the scene the way they expected, He was written off as a false prophet, when in fact He saved all of mankind, miraculously taking away the barrier of sin between God and man. Clearly God's plan is so much bigger than we can imagine, and He loves us more than we can ever know. But because we don't have His vision, we tend to write off what we don't plan or understand.
• in ordinary circumstances.  When the shepherds are just going about their daily business, the angels appear to them. In the middle of a tax census - in the middle of a normal work day, Jesus was born. If we open our eyes, we will see that, in the middle of our ordinary days, God works miracles all the time.
• through ordinary people.  God doesn't need us to work His miracles, but He chooses to use us anyway. We must make ourselves available for Him to use us.

The miracle of Christmas is that God chooses to use the ordinary - circumstances and people - to create miraculous situations in people's lives.   Be available - be open - be willing - and God will use you. In the meantime, open your eyes to the ordinary miracles occurring all around you every day.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son. 

That whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life."

John 3:16