Ready for a Miracle

Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” – Exodus 3:3 (NRSV)

If summer is your favorite season of the year, you might want to cover your ears while I say this: Hints of autumn are beginning to appear.

Outside my window, the zelkova’s leaves looks increasingly golden in the sunlight. Sunrise and sunset are inching south toward the equator. The town is replacing its summer bouquets with potted mums. The hum of cicadas and grasshoppers has become constant. An open window at night brings the perfect cool air for sleep.

The miracle of autumn is coming: the season when change is decidedly beautiful, the days when creation testifies to the power of rest and death to make room for life.

My spirit is oh-so-ready for autumn’s miracle, but if I don’t turn aside – regularly, intentionally – from each day’s tasks and chores and busyness and routine and worries and screens, I might miss it. I might miss the zelkova ablaze in red foliage. I might miss the respite of lengthening nights. I might take for granted the symphony of insects.

Moses turned aside from his shepherding duties to wonder at the miracle of a burning bush. I wonder how we might live differently as a society if we turned aside more often to notice miracles. I wonder how we might live differently as Christians if we practiced turning aside as often as we practice turning away (repentance), if we prepared ourselves to call out miracles as steadfastly as we prepare ourselves to call out sin and injustice.

My spirit is oh-so-ready for a miracle. Maybe yours is too. Turn aside: the miracle is already ablaze and calling your name.

Prayer
For every miracle, O God, let my spirit turn aside from its busyness and take time for wonder.

dd-hackenberg.jpgAbout the Author
Rachel Hackenberg serves on the national staff for the United Church of Christ. She is the author of Writing to God and the co-author of Denial Is My Spiritual Practice, among other titles. Her blog is Faith and Water.