Don’t Count On Miracles
When I began writing this Blog, I had a clear vision of what I was going to write. But as happens sometimes, while sitting and looking at the title that I just created, a wash of ideas and feelings swept over me, with a fear of saying what I really think. But, here goes.
Some of my best friends are believers. And that’s okay, as long as we never talk about our beliefs. Belief is something very personal; something unshakeable; something that is at the essence of our core and defines our very being. We are very rarely going to change what someone else thinks and believes.
Beliefs provide the design of daily living for ‘B’illions of people on the planet. If billions of people are praying to for their personal miracle today, and something random occurs tomorrow that fulfills the hopes of ‘one’, the multitudes lift their eyes to the heavens and declare, “It’s A Miracle.”
I hate it when beliefs get in the way of friendships and relationships. One long time friend of a different faith abruptly ended our friendship when I conducted a fund raising event to benefit Stem Cell Research. More than one woman has put the brakes on a potential relationship unless I would accept Jesus as my savior. I guess I am a magnet to people with strong belief systems.
My personal hero in the Bible is the wife of Job. If you remember the story, Job believed that he was being tested by God. He experienced one misfortune after another. In spite of his trials, Job continued to pray to and bless God. Job’s wife was a much more pragmatic individual. She urged him, “stop praying already and take an action to solve your own problems.”
Closer to home. . . this week a mother, who was taught to believe, took her cancer ridden son and ran with him, to shield him from chemo-therapy, which she believes is so wrong. Science knows that without treatment the boy will die. Science also knows that with treatment the boy has a 90% chance of recovery.
Many scrabble players believe that one improves their game and win percentage by simply playing more often. You can’t argue with them either. That’s what they believe. And when every so often they have an exceptional game, they point to that result and say, “See!” The best scrabble players did not achieve their prowess by praying or putting the OWL2 under their mattress.
All I can say is, “Don’t Count On Miracles.”