The Miracle of a Sunset

The other day I was in the car with my 14 year old headed home from the store. The sun was beginning to set and the colors in the sky were amazing. The various shades of pink melted into one another as the dark orange sun sat perfectly in the middle, a flaming circle with its beams of light shining through the painted sky. It was breathtaking. My daughter commented on just how stunning it was. As we drove over a bridge there was nothing to hinder our view and she told me she wished there was a place we could have pulled over to take a picture of the sunset as it was framed by the hills and trees. She wanted to capture that little bit of perfection to hold on to forever. I couldn’t blame her… I wished to do the very same thing.

Albert Einstein once said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” That day in the car with my daughter we witnessed the miracle of a gorgeous sunset. Others may claim that there was no miracle there to be seen, only the science of natural events, but I have to disagree. That brief moment in time, watching the sun set into the horizon, gave me that quick pause in my day to remember that despite all the stress and worries in my life God still surrounds me with beauty and calm. I just have to stop and enjoy it.

Many of us are so consumed with what we have to do and what we think needs to be done that we often miss out on the miracles that are happening right in front of us. We begin to think of life as work instead of as a gift. We fail to stop and just enjoy all that God has given to us.  We are so entrenched in our problems and worries that we fail to see our blessings and joys. How can we change this way of thinking that we have come to embrace? The answer is to change our way of looking at life itself.

When we stop looking at life as a job, a chore, and a burden and start looking at it as a blessing we begin to see that things seem a little easier to handle. It’s not that we don’t have problems or worries anymore but we see that regardless of our hardships we are still surrounded by miracles each and every day. Life isn’t all bad… in fact, it’s pretty amazing! We can live happier lives when we look at life as full of miracles instead of full of hurdles and challenges. Who doesn’t want to live a happier life?

We will find that when we live our lives neglecting to see the miracles that God places for us to discover, our lives seem to lack a definite spark. Life is hard, sometimes downright miserable, especially when we can’t see our blessings. However, something amazing happens when we begin to acknowledge the miracles that surround us; we become happier people. When we see God’s handiwork in everything around us we are reassured that God is near and God loves us. It is so much easier to go through the hard times in life when we know that God is making His presence known in the helping hand of our neighbor, the laughter of our children, the beauty of a fluttering butterfly, the cleansing feel of a gentle rain, and the magnificence of a glorious sunset.

Seeing the miracles that surround us doesn’t mean we won’t ever have a bad day or that we won’t face adversity. It means that while we will face these trials we know that despite the terrible things in life we are enveloped by more good than bad. God provides us with all we need to get through each and every day. He reminds us that He is here with us at all times. We only have to view life as gift of miracles instead of a set of hurdles to clear to begin know and understand God’s love for us.

What miracles do you see each day which point you to God’s love and desire to be active within your life?

© 2013. Michelle Fritz. All Rights Reserved.