18 Words That Can Produce a Miracle

I’ve written before about some of the words that have come to me, usually unbidden, that always offer a new perspective on something (one definition of a miracle). Often these words come out of the blue, when I’m walking or writing my morning pages or even when I’m cooking.

My most popular blog post, “12 Words that Changed Everything” still resonates with me and, apparently, many others. So does “Settling into the energy of ‘enough’” and “you have to feel it so we can heal it.”

And, these days when my personal life has changed because of my foot injury: “Just because things aren’t the same, doesn’t mean they still can’t be good.”

All these came to me pre-COVID-19, yet they resonate with an even stronger energy now than before.

One sentence though, came to me before COVID-19 that I’ve never written about. It was this: “What if this _____ (relationship, circumstance, problem) were more of a gift to be received, than a problem to be solved?”

I never wrote about it because I resisted it. Before COVID-19 hit, it seemed impossible enough that some of the problems I was trying to solve could be gifts. Then it became even more ludicrous to consider that the problems ushered in by a global pandemic could be gifts in any way.

Yet the question keeps coming back, and honestly, I feel almost angry. For instance, about this question: “What if this whole global crisis is a gift to received, more than a problem to be solved?”

Certainly it is a problem to be solved, I argue back. In fact, many problems to be solved.

Yes, the Voice patiently assents. There are many problems to be solved here. And could this also be a gift, an opportunity for the whole world to flex its creativity muscles and actually try to solve the problems that have been heretofore ignored?

Maybe, I acknowledge.

Could this not also be a time when the whole world is called to work together for the common good, to set aside our petty differences and realize that unless we work together for the common good, nobody will survive this?

Could not the enforced pause that many are still living also be a time when people stop to reflect, and evaluate what was not working in their lives and let that go, and decide what to embrace and take into the future?

Could not the loneliness many people feel, sheltered at home with no physical human contact for many, also be a time to cherish the wonder of touch and closeness and physical presence? Might it change the direction we’ve been headed in, when people sitting together in a restaurant look at their phones rather than interact?

Might the endless Zoom calls and phone interactions (rather than in-person interactions) help us to realize the limits of technology, and respect our humanness? (We are not machines!)

Might the many acts of kindness you’ve witnessed—people sewing masks and giving them away, people shopping for seniors, people offering help in myriad ways—counter the cynicism that “everyone is only out for themselves” and inspire others?

Might not this enforced pause cause everyone and the Earth itself to gain much-needed rest?

And what about the fear, the losses and grief, the uncertainty? Might not that force people to face the illusion of control, and turn to the God who holds all things together, and has promised to be a very present help in times of trouble? Might it not be a good thing if people turn to God and find the peace they were striving for in all the ways that have now been stripped away?

Gifts to be received. More than—not instead of, but more than—problems to be solved.

Both/and. Problems to be solved, AND gifts to be received.

I’m looking for the gifts. When I look, amazingly–I see. At least I see the possibility of a gift being hidden in the problem.

The question then is, will I actually receive it? Because one can see, and yet not receive. We can stay angry, or frozen in fear.

Or, we can, in faith, actually trust that there is a reason a good God allowed all the events of 2020 to happen. We can, in faith, choose to open to the gift, or at least to the possibility that it may be a gift.

So the question is asked, of me and of you: What if this global pandemic . . . my broken foot . . . that personal problem you face . . . were more of a gift to be received than a problem to be solved? What if we actually received that thing as a gift?

(And . . . might not this very questioning, the curiosity, be a way out of fear and anxiety? Another gift?)

If you would like help with opening up to the shift in perspective offered in the 18 words of this question, check out HealingCodesCoaching.com or contact Diane.