Tag Archives: Miracles

908. Do not waste this precious time; let your heart sing its tune. ~Irfaan Ishan Jaffer

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Reclaim the splendor of primordial man
Who worshiped in movement and dance
For the soul is music itself.

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This is the Divine-human meeting
At the high-center of the self
Your heart
The birthplace of miracles.
You’re the light of the heavens
Dripping with waters of truth
Brushed in colors of beauty
You are nothing but love.
~Excerpted lines from poems by
Irfaan Ishan Jaffer

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. ~Job 5:9  ✝

**Images via Pinterest; collage created by Natalie

868. Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. ~Mother Teresa

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Let my soul smile through my heart
and my heart smile through my eyes,
that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.
~Paramahansa Yogananda

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Too often we underestimate the power of
a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear,
an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
~Leo Buscaglia

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A smile is the light in your window
that tells others that there is a
caring, sharing person inside.
~Denis Waitley

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After every storm the sun will smile;
for every problem there is a solution,
and the soul’s indefeasible duty
is to be of good cheer.
~William R. Alger

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Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life,
The evening beam that smiles the clouds away,
and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.
~Lord Byron

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A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile
can work wonders and accomplish miracles.
~William Hazlitt

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The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions –
the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile,
a kind look or heartfelt compliment.
~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

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What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.
These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway,
the good they do is inconceivable.
~Joseph Addison

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The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower,
share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s,
smile at someone and receive a smile in return,
are to me continual spiritual exercises.
~Leo Buscaglia

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Because of your smile,
you make life more beautiful.
~Thich Nhat Hanh

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Smile, for everyone lacks self-confidence
and more than any other one thing
a smile reassures them.
~Andre Maurois

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A smile is the
universal welcome.
~Max Eastman

When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them. ~Job 29:24  ✝

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**Images via Pinterest; collages by Natalie

836. May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own being. ~John O’Donohue

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When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
And all the madness and stress of life fall in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight,
The light in the mind grows dimmer and dimmer
And weariness invades the body and spirit.

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It is time then for your soul to take you back
Into the “quiet immensity of your own being”
Where you can take refuge in your senses,
And notice all the small miracles you rushed through,
Miracles meant to clarify and soothe your soul.
It is time to watch the way of rain
When it falls through space, slow and free.
It is time to imitate the habit of twilight at day’s end
And in so doing open up the well of color
That fosters the brightness and beauty of the day.
It is time to be excessively generous with yourself
So that gradually, you can “awaken to the mystery of being here.”
And afterward having learned a new respect for your heart
It is time to seek the joy that dwells far within slow time.
Thus will you find peace in mind and body, temple of the Holy Spirit.
~Both passages are edited and adapted excerpts from John O’Donohue

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ~1 Corinthians 2:6-7 ✝

**Image via Pinterest and texts added by Natalie

778. It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters. ~Evander Holyfield

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The human heart feels things
the eyes cannot see
and knows what the mind
cannot understand.
~Robert Valett

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Hearts, hearts, hearts
What great miracles they are–
Intentions that beat, unexplained parts
Of deepest desires, holding dreams and scars.

Hearts they say, “the size of your palms”
And racing away, in unfamiliar tracks,
Searching and chasing they travel
Ticking away even when the mind is at rest.
~Edited and adapted excerpt from a poem
by an Unknown Author

Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ~Deuteronomy 6:5  ✝

**Image via Pinterest

764. Every day holds the possibility of a miracle. ~Elizabeth David

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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.
~Albert Einstein

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Okay, now let’s fast forward to the summer of 2012. Our daughter and her husband had started talking about taking their kids to Europe the next year for their annual summer vacation. Yeh, I know, lucky kids, huh?! And lo and behold, one day out of the blue, James says to me, “do you think we ought to go to Europe with them?” I was so stunned that I just sat there speechless and staring at him for a minute or two until I finally blurted out, “Are you serious? You do remember that you have to fly over the big pond to get there, right?” And he says, “Well, at least we’d all be on the same plane together if it went down.” Yeppers, that’s my James for ya. I guess a group death is better than a singular one. But just to make sure I asked him several more times if he really wanted to go, and he said yes each time.  So I called our daughter, Nikki, and the next week we began making plans and reservations for a 15 day trip to London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris. But alas, one more time, another of those dratted “best laid plans of mice and men going awry” things threatened to keep the now more than 50 year old dream a reality.  It was on November 9th, 2012, less that a month after my 70th birthday that I had an ischemic stroke caused by two clots in my brain. After I was rushed to the hospital by ambulance a neurosurgeon order a cat-scan and a MRI.  When the results came back, he told my family that if the clots were not removed, I would die and that the surgery to remove the clots could end my life as well. Of course, they opted for the surgery and here I am today. The Lord guided the surgeon’s hands and blessed me with even more miracles because the only residual damage I have from the stroke is that I have a little trouble spelling a word or two every now and then . Oh well, it’s a small, small price to pay for life and limb, as it were, n’est-ce pas?!

You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. ~Psalm 77:14  ✝

**Collage created by Natalie

708. All that is eternal in me welcomes the wonder of this day… ~John O’Donohue

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I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
~John O’Donohue

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May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.

May I have the courage today
To live the life I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
~John O’Donohue

He (God) performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.  ~Job 5:9   ✝

610. Life is a series of thousands of tiny miracles. ~Mike Greenberg

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Every gardener knows
that under the cloak of winter
lies a miracle–a seed waiting to sprout,
a bulb opening to the light,
a bud straining to unfurl.
And the anticipation nurtures our dream.
~Barbara Winkler

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Miracles! Miracle after miracle after miracle! Where would any of us be without the existence of miracles. Bad things definitely happen on planet earth, but miraculous things also occur on a daily basis. Moreover, many times out of the dust and devastation of catastrophic disasters arise changes for the betterment of life and living conditions as well as uplifting examples of the amazing goodness that exists in the human heart and soul.  Looking for evidence of the miraculous is precisely the reason I’m so in love with the small piece of Eden the Lord granted me. I may have started gardening for the love of flowers and color, but it wasn’t long before I began to find day to day evidence of God’s eternal faithfulness and His supernal miracles. Spending even a small amount of time in my garden repeatedly unveils the Lord’s abiding presence, and I have to wonder if the poet who spoke of “fairies at the bottom of the garden” wasn’t actually “entertaining angels unawares.” In spite of Creation’s brokenness and my own heart’s sufferings, miraculous wellsprings of life and hope open up whenever I spend time outside, either as the gardener in residence or simply as the mindful beholder. And time spent within my garden “walls” also teaches me how to respond to life and its sometimes terrifying circumstances with a spirit of peace and love. Holy Writ tells us that understanding is not promised unto us, but peace that transcends understanding is granted to those who seek the Prince of Peace and search for the true heart of life. Thus even in the dead of winter, I often go out, even if I have to hobble around on a cane, to putter in the flowerbeds or stroll along the garden’s paths in search of its sustaining “holy food.”

May the lights of the heavens, the delights of the earth, the flowing of life-giving waters, the warmth of the sun, the wind, that like Yahweh, can be felt but not seen forever bring you peace and an awareness of the miracles all around us as well.

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. ~Job 9:10  Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. ~Hebrews 13:2   ✝

**Image via Pinterest

605. It’s interesting when you read the life of Christ how much time He spent healing the sick. ~Francis Collins

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The miracles of the church seem to me
not to rest so much upon faces or voices or
healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar,
but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that
for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear
what is there and has been about us always.
~Adapted excerpt by Willa Cather

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I (Jesus) will restore you to health and heal your wounds. I am with you, within you, all around you–continually at work in your life. When your awareness of Me grows dim, My Presence continues to shine brightly upon you. This Light has immense healing Power. So dare to ask great things of Me, remembering who I am. I am able to do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask or think. Pondering My limitless ability to help you will strengthen your faith and encourage you to pray boldly.

Praying in My Name–with perseverance–can accomplish great things. Learn from the parable of the persistent widow, who refused to give up. She kept bringing her petition to a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. Eventually her persistence wore him down, and he gave her what she sought. How much more will I respond to My children who cry out to Me day and night! Though you may have to wait a long time, do not give up. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds. ~From JESUS TODAY by Sarah Young (**In all of Sarah’s devotionals she writes as if it were Jesus, Himself, who is speaking to us.)

I dedicate this post to all who read it and are in need of healing! I pray that Christ, The Bread of Life, restore health and wholeness unto you! In Jesus’ name! Amen!

594. The wise still seek Him. ~Author Unknown

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The media is increasingly devoted to fear-inducing subject matter: terrorism, serial killers, environmental catastrophes, and so on. And yet, every day the Lord’s grace is made manifest in countless places and situations, and He showers blessings and outright miracles on our planet. ~Edited excerpt from JESUS CALLING by Sarah Young

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Let us remember that He has given us
the sun and the moon and the stars,
and the earth with its forests and mountains and oceans–
and all that live and move upon them.
He has given us all green things
and everything that blossoms and bears fruit–
and all that we quarrel about
and all that we have misused–
and to save us from our own foolishness,
from all our sins,
He came down to earth and gave us Himself.
~Sigrid Undset,
Nobel prize-winning Norwegian novelist

God is our refuge and strength,an ever-present help in trouble.Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,  though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. ~Psalm 46:1-3   ✝

**Image via Pinterest

590. “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.” ~Clement C. Moore

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Our homes are to be more than sanctuaries.
They should be places 
where God’s spirit can dwell,
where the storm stops at the door,
where love reigns and peace dwells.
~Thomas S. Monson

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I strive not only to make my home the kind of place Monson describes but I also want my blog “home” to be the same type of space. To all of you who visit my little corner of the world at my blog, I pray you’ve had wonderful Christmas celebrations and that the new year brings you and yours more blessings and miracles than can be counted. Thank you for all your comments over the last year and the kindnesses expressed in them. It fills my heart with joy knowing there are so many kindred spirits all over the world. I’m awed by the talents and gifts you share with me and others and am so very grateful our paths have crossed. You lift me up when the ills of society close in and the media’s incessant firestorms paint their ad nauseum pictures of despair. It is in so doing that you restore my hope that places where love reigns and peace dwells are achievable. So please keep your unique and special “little lights” shining! Virtual hugs and much love to each and everyone of you, Natalie

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  ~Isaiah 9:6   ✝

**Image via Pinterest