There’s a funny thing about miracles. They always require us to do something different than we’ve been doing.
In my prayer time this morning, the health of our planet came to mind, and I found myself wanting God to do something about it. I wanted God to miraculously alter the way we have abused our earthly home and bring it back to its pristine and healthy state. I wanted a miracle. And then I remembered, God can only do for us what God can do through us. We, every one of us, must change something in our thoughts, words, and actions to bring our planet once more into its glory. It’s the way miracles work.
Think about the things we call miracles. In every miracle of Jesus, someone has to DO something. At the Wedding Feast at Cana, water is only turned into wine after the stewards fill the jars with water. No water, no wine.
A blind man who wishes to see must put mud over his eyes and then wash it away. The man whose son is gravely ill must return to him and believe the healing will occur. The woman who had hemorrhaged for twelve years? She reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.
Miracles require us to do something. And that something involves a change of thought, a change of belief, a change of words, and a change of action. They require action grounded in absolute faith.
What miracle are you looking for today? And what will you change? What voice will you listen to? What will you believe – the impossible? Or the possible? And what will you do differently?
The CHANGING COLORS of leaves in the northern autumn season are a miraculous display of life renewing itself. Today I saw just three leaves on our maple tree that had turned a brilliant, maize. The brightly colored foliage was nested in a ground of deep, green leaves that had not yet begun to turn. Change, whether the color of leaves, or the unfolding of our lives, often occurs just a little at a time. Why rush when the real beauty lies in beholding the process? The leaves will change according their own perfect timing. Each stage will be a glorious sight to see. Our own transformation often begins with just a glimpse of something small but brighter. This process too is beautiful to behold and will unfold according to its own innate and perfect timing. The CHANGING COLORS are beautiful, and remind me of the miracles at work continuously within me. 
DEW, the moisture that appears on the grass and plants in the early morning hours is a mystery to me; a miracle in a sense. I know I can look up the process and find details about condensation and heat and humidity and such, but still the appearance of DEW in the morning has a magical quality. Where there was no moisture before, it suddenly appears. DEW provides much needed moisture to the grass, the plants and the insect world, appearing when all was dry just moments before. In life, there are miracles like the appearance of DEW all around us every day; the phone call from a friend when we were feeling lonely; the traffic that keeps us from the 10-car collision down the road; the smile of a baby in the grocery store line that reminds us of the joy and amazement of life just when we needed it. Like DEW, these things appear miraculously and satisfy our thirst for connection, safety and harmony. Where there was darkness moments ago, there is suddenly Light and what was dry and thirsting is quenched.
Eileen Patra 