Messy Miracles

“What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” 1 Co 15:42-44

We don’t have to look far to find pleading hearts longing for a miracle. The world is filled with prayers of intervention…the cure of a disease…prayer for a wayward child…love for a lonely heart…healing for a broken marriage...work for the unemployed. This time of year, I am reminded that a few thousand years ago a nation was also pleading for a miracle. They were looking for a king to come and reign among them. They had built their lives believing that God was going to usher in a man who would deliver them from their present circumstances. They had their own idea of what their miracle would look like, but instead of the dignitary entering their city wrapped in his royal robe, a tiny baby entered the world whose mommy wrapped Him tightly in a soft cloth. The miracle for which they were looking would not be realized for 33 years. The miracle they were expecting didn't come with little cries, rather with trumpets. Their miracle grew up right before them, but they were too busy applying their own understanding. They eventually received their prayer, but it was one of the messiest miracles every recorded…the miracle came on the other side of the cross.

I know all about that and I’ll bet you do too – year after year we wait and watch looking for our answered prayers. We pray for a certain outcome that seems to be taking a lifetime. We look around in our battered and bruised situations calling on God to clean up our messy lives. But just like baby Jesus our miracle will also start with infancy with the first breath God breathes onto our circumstances. He tends to our situations, nourishing them and growing them into full grown miracles. Like Jesus sometimes our prayers are fulfilled through the messy pain of life, while others will come through blessings. As messy as my sister’s cancer journey was it was met with the ultimate miracle. Her broken body was sown in weakness, but her beautifully healed body was raised in power. She closed her eyes to the perishable and opened them to the imperishable. She never missed a breath, as earth was her final exhale and Heaven was her eternal inhale.

Most miracles have a messy walk on the way to freedom, but we must keep our belief that when we see a baby, God sees a king…when we see darkness, God sees light…when we see nothing, God sees everything. He is right in the middle of every miracle in the making so let us anchor our hope in Him. Sometimes our miracle just hasn't yet grown up.