How To Manage When You’re In Between Miracles

There’s a country song, from back in 1995, by Bryan White. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FosNAPJBoIk It’s about how the singer never finds love, despite wishing on the stars. Everyone around him finds love, so he thinks he must be wishing on someone else’s star. It’s a great song – simple and wonderful melody. It also has a haunting message: What do you do when everyone else around you is doing well, and getting everything they want, and you’re not?

I call that phase “in between miracles.’ That nebulous place where things aren’t bad but they’re not great either. I liken it to the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert. They have witnessed great miracles, such as the splitting of the Red Sea, daily manna, and the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Yet they were still afraid. Those miracles happened yesterday, where is the miracle today?

It’s easy to fall into this trap when you look at social media. Everyone seems happy, doing things I wish I could do. They are productive at work, have clean houses, and their kids are disciplined with their schoolwork. I consider it a feat to manage a shower every day and show up to my Zoom meetings on time. My kids basically fend for themselves and haven’t read a book in a month. So you know, I have been to that nebulous place of “where’s my miracle?” a few times and here’s how I deal with it.

Seek out others and hear about their miracles to remind me that one is coming
Read/watch videos of stories of how others overcame their troubles – (Personally, I love to read biographies to hear how ordinary people from humble origins went on to do great and extraordinary things)
As Zig Ziglar used to say, “You can have everything in life you want, if you help others get what they want.”

So the next time you feel like this, the antidote is – remember that your miracle is coming. In the meantime, help others. Be of service and get out of self. That’s not easy to do but at least provides a focus that this period will pass and the miracle of whatever is next – is coming.

And remember – the podcast about God stories will be released every Wednesday, so check back to hear the next installment of how God shows up right on time. You can listen to last week’s podcast here: http://rabbicosnowsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Story-of-Gerry-Podcast-1.m4a

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