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Miracles are all around us

“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” These words can be found in the Bible and are purported to have been spoken by Jesus Christ himself.

Along those lines, I had what you could call a bit of an epiphany the other day when I realized that I was watching a miracle unfold before my very eyes. It was a miracle that I had been watching for some time, but the miraculous had eluded me for a variety of reasons. You see, every year in the spring we plant sunflower seeds for our children to grow in one of our outdoor gardens. However, to properly ensure the plants’ health, we begin by growing them in starter cups in the house and then transplant them outside when the weather is good. These sunflowers seeds are absolutely amazing in that they usually grow to a height of about 10 to 11 feet and each one produces thousands of seeds for the next year’s planting. My children love the process of watching them grow and mature over the course of a couple months every summer.

But to be honest, I tend to take this process a little for granted. However, two weeks ago I was walking through the dining room where we have the seedlings growing and I simply stopped and marveled at them. I was looking at a miracle. Out of a single sunflower seed, within days usually, a green shoot begins to pop up with the shell of the seed attached to the head of the plant as it makes it way upward and toward the sun. No matter what I do, I cannot make the seeds grow. I can attempt to control the environment to be one in which I think they will best survive and thrive in — I can give them the proper amount of water and sunlight and plant them in the best of soils, but I cannot make them grow. The seeds will grow when they are ready and the circumstances dictate it.

Now, you can explain to me why the seeds grow because of the scientific methods and specific chemistry involved, but you still cannot make the seeds grow. There is something deeper that causes the seeds to grow and mature into fully grown plants.

The Bible says in the book of Isaiah 55:9, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

I Corinthians 1:25, 27 state, “The wisdom of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength… God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

While these verses may be taken slightly out of context, I would offer that if you want to feel humbled, try contemplating all aspects of the life cycle of a seed from planting to maturity. Something so simple is so infinitely complex and inexplicable. Seeds grow because that’s what they do — at least that’s what most of us are programmed to think. We are so accustomed to watching and expecting seeds to grow that we tend to miss the miracle that is happening right before our eyes!

We are bombarded daily by miracles that go completely unnoticed for many of us. For example: the food that I eat enables and energizes my body to perform the tasks that I need to survive and thrive. Although I have no way to produce it on my own, I have yet to run out of air to breath and water to drink; I have been blessed to witness the pregnancies and deliveries of all three of my children; as I compose this while looking out my office window, I am left speechless by the colors of green and blue that adorn the skies and surrounding mountains outside; I have met some of the most amazing and selfless people through the course of my life that I call my friends. The miracles are all around us – do you see them?

A redwood tree will grow to between 120 and 150 feet when fully matured. It takes only one seed for the tree to germinate and begin to grow. Each seed is approximately 1/8-inch long, and a redwood tree will produce approximately 6 to 8 million seeds per year. Combine just one seed with dirt, water and sunlight and if the conditions are right, in 80 to 100 years, you will have a mature redwood tree. Seem miraculous to you? “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week’s column comes from Rev. Scott Garman of Cedar Heights Brethren in Christ Church.

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