Why We Should Expect Miracles in Our Lives — and How to Recognize Them Every Day

A mother's devotional reflection on learning to expect — and recognize — the miracles that happen every single day. Anne Maxson opens with her young son John, whose logical faith assumed the Savior could simply show Joseph and Mary how to make a car for the trip to Bethlehem, since He had shown Nephi how to make a ship. Children, she observes, truly expect to see miracles; to them, miracles seem so logical and likely that they barely register as miracles at all. Adults, she admits, struggle more — not because miracles stop, but because we fail to recognize them. Her catalogue of overlooked daily miracles is disarmingly ordinary: safe travels, a quiet family meal after a long day, young children whose naps happen to coincide, just the right song arriving on the radio at just the right moment. On one especially difficult day she turned on the Church's audio channel and the program that happened to be playing featured her absolute favorite hymn, 'Lead, Kindly Light' — with lyrics she desperately needed at that exact moment. Miracle. She cites President Dallin H. Oaks, who taught that 'many miracles happen every day in the work of our Church and in the lives of our members.' Countless mothers, she writes, have watched energetic, daredevil children escape harm and wondered how many angels were recruited at a particular moment of peril. From her own mission she recalls a woman they were teaching who fell very sick and asked for a blessing. The sister missionaries offered a prayer and promised the elders would come later — but by the time they arrived, the woman reported she was feeling one hundred percent. It became a strong testimony to her of the power of prayer and faith to lead to miracles. Her deepest insight is about agency. Since God will not control our will, every choice that draws us closer to Him is, in a sense, a miracle — and the scriptures speak of angels rejoicing over us when we repent, come unto Christ, and bear our testimonies. 'Think of that,' she writes — the Lord of the whole universe rejoices over you. 'To He who orchestrates so many other miracles, you are a miracle when you give your will to Him.' She closes with an invitation: this is a wonderful season to ponder the miracles of the Savior's coming, to look for the miracles in our everyday lives, and to work at being a miracle for others — because as we do, we draw closer to the Savior and become a miracle to Him. Go forth expecting — and recognizing — miracles.