It was one of those weeks that was gray, dreary, cloudy, and rainy. The grayness was pervasive, and everything felt flat, flat, flat.

On one of those mornings I had to run errands, the grayest of all tasks, and my errand included going into a big box retailer, the grayest of all stores. I parked on an unremarkable slab of asphalt and looked up at the towering box of a store before me. Rain splashed on my windshield, creating droopy wet drops of drab.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I breathed deeply, opened my heart, and said aloud, “I just need a miracle.”

After a few moments, I opened one eye and squinted to see what miracle may have been delivered. A bitter sarcasm rose with me. Some miracle. Was it possible that the gray had gotten grayer? Had the drab colors of the day washed out even more? Did the concrete slabs of suburbia all around me multiply?

As if I needed a final verdict on flatness, at that moment a couple drove in, parked next to me, and began arguing loudly about whether or not he had parked too close to me. (For the record, the answer was yes.)

My sigh deepened as I gathered myself together and lifelessly plodded into the store.

Hours later, my sullen mood had not lightened, and I was still searching for my miracle. As I headed home, I glanced out the window at the sky. Was it me, or did the world seem to glisten a bit? The rainy rivulets on my window appeared slightly sparkly. The low-hanging clouds almost seemed like an envelopment of misty magic. The glow of opaque light cut the gray with an iridescent hue.

What had changed? My mind told me that absolutely nothing had changed, and there was no miraculous mirage. Yet, persistently and consistently, something ever so faint had lightened. A miracle.

Ralph Waldo Emerson astutely noted, “The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” A 2013 Oxford University study echos his sentiment that miraculous moments are often reported in times of stress and challenge, even small ones. Inc. Magazine furthers the case for micro-miracles in its opinion piece on how the smallest of moments carry the greatest impact.

Perhaps your spiritual life feels flat, dull, lifeless, and gray. Attuning to micro-miracles is one way to bring back the magic, find flashes of light, and enliven the extraordinary in our spiritual experience. Start with the micro and not the macro to find your spark. An electric green blade of new grass, a beloved pet snuggling next to you, an unexpected moment of laughter that bubbles up. For it’s not the universe far away that holds our miraculous breakthrough. Life’s common miracles open up before us when we allow whatever we deem as gray to transform our sight into micro-miracles of light.

With love,

Annie

P.S. If you feel lost in how to find common miracles and real magic in your everyday life, our upcoming retreats will support you in uncovering the lightness, spaciousness, freedom, and spark that awaits you. Retreat experiences are essential for our spiritual awakening path, as time away resets and reconnects us with an enlivening soulfulness that we may struggle to access when we are stuck in our usual routine. We’ve run retreats for years, and the sacred souls that gather together are a pure miracle in forming honest, authentic, and genuine community. From our hearts to yours, we invite you to join us and discover the miracle of an alive spirituality that makes a difference in your everyday life.