“Wine from water is not so small, but an even better magic trick is that anything is here at all.  So, the challenging thing becomes, not to look for miracles, but finding where there isn’t one.” — Peter Mayer

These song lyrics were at the top of our order of service at church this morning.  Cool coincidence I suppose, as I’d been thinking about miracles a lot lately.  Although I certainly hadn’t expressed my thoughts as eloquently as Peter Mayer did in his song.

I mentioned recently that I’ve been going through some challenging times.  My response to this is to always give gratitude for what I have where the alternative is to complain about what I don’t have.  But sometimes, when you’re in a really difficult stretch, it becomes harder to find the things to have gratitude for.

The irony of this is that I find myself feeling grateful for these especially hard times because they have caused me to realize how grateful I should be for so many things that I simply take for granted.  If you sit quietly for a moment and just observe the world around you, it doesn’t take long to realize that nearly everything’s a miracle.

Or, if you’re like me and you have a 4 year old, you get daily reminders of the fact that everything’s a miracle.  The only real answer I have for many of her many questions lately is “it’s a miracle.”

I have a deep scrape on my knee and she wants to know how your body heals itself.  It’s a miracle.  We planted tiny little ugly brown seeds in an egg carton yesterday.  How do they grow into the beautiful flowers pictured on the seed package?  It’s a miracle.

Why does the sun set?  Miracle.

Why does it snow in the spring?  Miracle.

Why does my 9 month old cry when I leave the room?  Another miracle.

Now of course there are long drawn out scientific explanations for most of these things.  But what it really boils down to is “that’s just the way it is.”  And the way it is, is a miracle.

With millions of people in the world, how do we meet the love of our life?  How do we find a friend that knows just what to say at just the right time?  How are we able to go on after the death of a parent, or worse yet, a child?  How can a dog enable a blind man to live as though he were sighted?  Why does chocolate taste SO good?

Well, I could go on all night, but I hope you get the point.  Because most people don’t get the point.  And if you’re not “into” self improvement and personal growth, you may never stop long enough in life to realize the point.

Life is so full and so challenging and so hectic, that it’s frighteningly easy to miss the fact that miracles are everywhere and in everything.

But, as my minister put it today, it matters how you see the world and it matters how you tell the story.

If someone asked me how my day was, for example, I could respond by telling them that it was a miserably cold and rainy day, and all my kids were tired from staying up too late, and getting everyone up and dressed to take my daughter to school was a real struggle.

Or I could tell them how much fun we had staying up late the night before roasting marshmallows over the fire, and how my daughter sang a beautiful rendition of twinkle, twinkle little star to my baby that morning to keep him from being fussy.

And I could laugh about how my 2 year old ran around the house in my high heels that morning as I tried to chase him down and get his shoes on him.  And I could share how much fun my daughter had at school stomping in the mud puddles and finding the post-rain worms wriggling on the sidewalk.  I could marvel at the rainbow.

It’s up to me.  I can’t control my kids’ moods.  I can’t control the weather.  But I can control how I see the world.  And how I tell the story, even if only to myself in my own head.  I can view life as a struggle or as a miracle.

Why does it matter?  The short answer is that part of the goal of self improvement is to be happy.  And being happy just for the sake of being happy is a good thing.

But it goes deeper than that.  Seeing the world as a miracle is critical to your online business success.  Find out why next time.

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at home mom with 3 fabulous kids and a home business consultant with over 11 years experience.  Jennifer is passionate about empowering others to develop a mindset that guarantees personal and financial success.

Discover the Seven Simple Success Steps in Jennifer’s free mini-course and start changing your life instantly.

Take daily steps towards creating the life you want with Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan.