Daily Miracles

 By Student Bob Bonvallet

“Replace the anxiety and fear within me, O Lord, with the calm serenity, quiet confidence, and courageous faith that comes from knowing there is a Rock upon who I am able to learn during the storm – a Rock that will not falter or crumble, a Rock that is sturdy and strong, the spirit of the Christ who is always there, waiting with arms outstretched.” Ron Roth

Celebrating Life Ministries teaches the importance of trust in God, surrendering to God’s will, being open to receiving miracles, and gratitude in all circumstances. Our spiritual guides will get us through anything that happens in the future. Some miracles can be dramatic and life-altering, and I described one of these in my previous blog last December, but I have become increasingly aware of smaller miracles that can happen to each of us every day. Here are a few “daily miracles” which happened to me recently.

✔️ On Friday evening, August 26, Kathy and I boarded a flight from Chicago to Providence, R.I., to attend Virginia Chapin-Sheff’s memorial service. It was particularly important that Kathy attend the service in person because she was scheduled to provide live music. Little did we suspect what was in store. First, boarding was delayed one and a half hours due to a storm in Providence. After we finally boarded it was announced that the flight would be further delayed in order to de-ice the wings, which was very strange since the outside temperature was in the high 70’s! For about two hours we sat on the plane awaiting the arrival of the de-icing truck, which had been placed into storage since it is not normally used in the summer. Then, they had to find a technician who knew how to use the de-icing equipment. Finally, we could take off.

We arrived in Providence after 1 A.M. We were the last flight to land that night, and I had concerns that we would be able to obtain our rental car at that late hour. To our pleasant surprise, two rental car attendants chose to stay on duty well past their normal quitting time, just to accommodate the passengers on our flight!

We were the last in line, and I optimistically asked for a Toyota Corolla, which we had pre-ordered, only to be told that the only vehicles still available for rental at that time were pickup trucks. I was hoping to avoid driving a pickup truck for the weekend, so I asked if maybe he could borrow a car from another rental car company. He said he would see what he could do.

Five minutes later he returned with a Corolla! He had borrowed it from the car service area because it needed an oil change, but he said he could let us have it for the weekend. In the meantime, the other rental service agent still on duty asked where we were going and when we mentioned Saunderstown, she said, “I live in Saunderstown!” and she gave us driving directions much simpler and faster than the ones from our phone GPS.

✔️ We arrived at the Holiday Inn in Saunderstown around 2:30 AM, hoping they had a room for us.  We had had much trouble making hotel reservations over the phone, since we had to deal with people from a central reservations office, and every time we called that office we had to talk to a different person who seemed to have no record of what the previous person had told us.  And I didn’t want to sleep in the car that night. We were pleasantly surprised that they had a room for us which was a much nicer room than we were expecting.

✔️ Then there was the return flight to Chicago. It was important for me to get back home on Monday because I had prearranged to take Monday off from my teaching job but did not have lesson plans or a substitute teacher lined up for Tuesday. It can be a hassle for a teacher to take a day off unexpectedly. But when we arrived at the Providence airport Monday morning, we learned that flights to Chicago were being delayed due to stormy weather in the Midwest. Some of the later flights to Chicago had already been cancelled, but our flight was not yet cancelled. I crossed my fingers.

We boarded the plane two hours behind schedule, then once on the plane we were notified by the pilot that the Chicago airports had just been closed due to the weather. Oh, no! The pilot held out hope that our airport would reopen and that we would get through. More than two very long hours later, the Chicago airport did in fact reopen and we took off, somehow flew around the storm, and arrived Monday evening almost five hours late, but in plenty of time for me to get to school the next morning. And our flight was the last flight from Providence to Chicago that day that was not cancelled!

And it was all well worth it. The memorial service for Virginia was wonderful and I’m so glad I was able to attend in person. And Kathy provided such beautiful live music. I am grateful for the series of miracles that made it possible for us to attend.

✔️ The week after our return from Providence, the young daughter of one of my fellow teachers was recently rushed to the Emergency Room and spent several days in the hospital. All of us prayed, each in our own way, for her recovery. She has now returned home where she has recovered, and her parents are very relieved. A miracle? I would say yes.

✔️ That same week I visited my ophthalmologist. I have visited his office two or three times per year for 25 years to check my eye pressure and make sure the eye drops I take are keeping the pressure under control so that no eye damage (glaucoma) was occurring. So far, so good. The readings have generally been in what I would call a “high normal” range, occasionally “high”. But this time my eye pressure reading was solidly normal, the best reading I’ve had in about ten years. Yay!

✔️ Three weeks after we returned from Providence, we discovered a puddle of water in a low spot in our unfinished basement. There was a crack in the floor at this spot, a harmless crack that had been there for years, but now I wondered if we suddenly had a leak in the foundation of our home. This could require an expensive major repair. But upon further investigation, we discovered that the problem was caused by a clogged pipe in the air conditioning unit which caused water to overflow and leak onto the basement floor, then accumulate in the low spot. The next day a repairman fixed the problem in 15 minutes for a modest fee.

I don’t mean to suggest that we have never faced a major repair issue with our home in all the years we have lived there. We have had two different major flooding episodes, both several years ago. One was due to a faulty back-up sump pump and the other was caused by a bursting pipe. But in both cases, we were guided to find the right repair people and the house was soon restored to its normal condition. In both cases I felt we were being watched over and taken care of by a higher power.

✔️ Our house has many very tall trees, some of the tallest trees in our neighborhood, and a recent thunderstorm blew down a very big branch from our largest silver maple. The branch could have landed on our house and caused significant damage. But instead, it fell in the other direction and landed harmlessly in our yard. We were able to get in touch almost immediately with a contractor who came out to inspect the next morning, agreed to clean up the yard, and everything is now back to normal. This happened only two days after the “water puddle incident” mentioned above, and by now I was wondering if God was deliberately arranging these house-related incidents just to give me more miracles to write about.

✔️ I try not to overlook what I believe is the most important daily miracle of all – another twenty-four hours of life, the ability to do things, to love and serve others, and to be grateful to God.

“Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations, and say continually: ‘The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in Him, and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me and I in Him.” Saint Francis de Sales