The Little Miracles

Have you ever truly reflected on the people you have met in your life?

I am not referring so much to your family and close friends, but to those you have merely come into contact with, even if just for a fleeting moment. Whether it was the man you began a conversation with while waiting for the bus, or the woman you helped to pick up her things when she stumbled and dropped them, or the person you got stuck in line with at the DMV; all of these moments happen to us almost every day, and yet they hardly ever receive a second thought.

This is a shame because such moments are in actuality tiny miracles from God that are meant to remind us of the importance of community and evangelization.

Think back to the last time you had a situation like this; think about the person you interacted with. What has led them to that very place at that very time? What did they experience throughout their life, and what choices did they make in response to those experiences, to have led them to this very spot at this very moment? What minor change in their growth as a person would have prevented them from meeting you?

Obviously you cannot answer such questions, but to ponder them will lead to the recognition that their presence here at this moment in your life is extraordinarily intricate and, with the presence of an all-powerful and all-loving God, anything but chance.

Similarly, reminisce about your own life. How did you grow up so as to come into contact with this person? What did you do and what choices did you make in order to get you here? What are all the myriad of decisions and situations you have come across to bring you right here right now into this one moment with this one stranger?

It is a deep and puzzling thing to think about, but the hand of God in its involvement becomes apparent upon such reflection. God has been intimately involved in each and every person’s life regardless of their knowledge of that fact. If we do good it is because of God. If we do evil then God uses it for good anyway. Regardless of what we do God guides us. And in moments like these we see that God guides us into the lives of people we have never met before and most likely will never meet again. Yet through an extravagantly large amount of circumstances we were placed in, choices we have made, and consequences we experienced we wound up here, in this present moment with this present person. And the same is true of them; though they had such tremendously different life circumstances and made vastly different choices than we did they nonetheless wound up here with us.

It is these little miracles that God gives us every day. So the most Christ-like thing that we can do when presented with such a miracle is to use it for God’s glory and will. Do good for the person; show you care about them; get to know them if you both have the time; find out about them and see how God fits in if He does at all; in other words, evangelize.

The importance of your evangelization in this moment cannot be stressed enough. It is possible that your discussion will plant a seed that will help bring that person into a closer relationship with God in one way or another. But regardless of their response to whatever you say or do, you are participating in an act of God by showing your love for this person.

Am I saying that you need to tell each and every person you meet ‘Have you been saved?’? No of course not (that tends to have the opposite affect). Instead, evangelize in these moments through showing your care and love for this individual. If the topic of God comes up then do not shy away from it. But by at least reaching out to this person in whatever way God moves your heart to do so, you are drawing closer both to your fellow brother/sister as well as to the One who made the both of you.

Who knows the plans of God, after all? It is very possible that you may develop a closer relationship with this person going forward; perhaps a good friendship will develop. Many people have met their future spouse through such moments as well. But statistically this will not happen. Most of the people you ever have and ever will come in contact with will be people you have never seen before and will probably never see again.

So be sure to make the most of it.