Ordinary Miracles

Last weekend we watched the newly released video version of Charlotte's Web and at the end there was a video by Sarah McLachlan entitled Ordinary Miracle. The lyrics are as follows:

It’s not that unusual
when everything is beautiful
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

The sky knows when it’s time to snow
Don’t need to teach a seed to grow
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Life is like a gift they say,
wrapped up for you everyday
Open up and find a way
to give some of your own

Isn’t it remarkable
like every time a raindrop falls
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

Birds and winter have their fling
but always make it home by spring
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

When you wake up every day
please don’t throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart
cause we are all a part of the ordinary miracle
Ordinary miracle, do you wanna see a miracle?

It seems so exceptional
that things just work out after all
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

The sun comes up and shines so bright
and disappears again at night
It’s just another ordinary miracle today

It’s just another ordinary miracle today

It seems that we so often ask God for miracles, but don't recognize that we are surrounded by them each and every day. So much of what we take for granted is indeed miraculous in itself. Surely you've had the experience of finding a newly spun spider's web, glistening with dew in the early morning sun and wondered at the magnificent perfection with which it was constructed. Or perhaps you've watched a colorful swallowtail butterfly float through your garden, stopping to drink the nectar from each of the brightly colored flowers.

There are so many amazing miracles around us each and every day. You need look no further than your own yard. If you search for proof that God lives, open your eyes. The proof of his existence is a evident as the sunrise. This beautiful world of ours cannot be explained so simply as scientists and mathematicians would have us believe. There surely is a chemical and mathematical explanation for everything that occurs in our universe. Scientists can answer the where, what, when, and how. But the why remains a mystery. Things are because they are....simply. And then there is the beauty of it all.....and that is where God lives....in the ordinary miracle.

We hold the fate of the world in our hands......

We do not own Mother Earth, but we do call her "home". In exchange for the privilege of inhabiting her we were appointed her protectors, her caretakers. Are we failing her? Dear Reader, consider your own lifestyle. Do you do everything in your power to make this world better? Or, have you become like so many of us....parasites, sucking the life force from her? We can no longer bury our heads in the sand thinking that what we do individually doesn't matter. It does! I challenge you today, on Earth Day, to look at your daily habits. Are you faithfully recycling? Are you making efforts to reduce your energy consumption? Are you trying to live more "greenly"? If you can find just a few simple ways to reduce your energy consumption, you have helped to make a difference. Mother Earth thanks you.

A Case for Free Will....

Every so often I run into someone who in conversation will remark about the Will of God. That person may state that a certain event occurred because it was God's Will or they may remark that something might happen to them if it is God's Will. In my usual non-confrontational manner, I usually do not respond to their statement. However, in the wake of the events of the past 24 hours, I will respond now. Yesterday, on the campus of Virginia Tech, a 19 year old college student walked into a dormitory and shot and killed 2 students. He then proceeded to a classroom building, chained the doors shut and opened fire on countless more students. When the shooting was over, 31 more students lay dead on the floor including the shooter, who had taken his own life. Where was God's Will in this incident?

I stand by my belief, as I always have, that God has given us an enormous gift. That gift is one of Free Will. We do not live our lives by a script; but rather, each day are given the opportunity to write the book that is our life. We write it with our own hand, with our own words. Random acts of violence are not God's will, they are the will of an individual....an individual who has chosen the wrong path for his own life. War is not an act of God. It is the result of a collective decision of men who chose to solve problems through violence. Natural disasters are not acts of God...they are the natural occurrences that happen as a result of our Earth being acted upon by physical forces both internal and external.

The only act of God that exists in these cases is the original one.....that of the gift of free will. God has given us this Earth, our life and all of the faculties to make of it what we chose. We are not his puppets. We are his children. And just as we can teach our own children right from wrong, it is ultimately their free will that determines their choices. And so God watches.....and prays that His children use their gift of free will for Good. But it is not always so.

Today, we mourn the loss of our children who were so senselessly struck down, yesterday, just as we continually mourn the loss of our children all over the world who die in random acts of violence or war. We cannot make sense of any of this if we chalk it up to God's Will.

But just as we cannot blame God's Will for the evil in the world, we cannot also say that good things will come to us only if it is God's Will. No, if we must take responsibility for the bad, then we must take responsibility for making good happen also. We must take hold of our own lives and steer them toward the destiny that we want. We have been given the ability to end life if we chose. Conversely, we have also been given the power to create a glorious, positive, loving life. It is time to take responsibility for our destiny. Perhaps if we all felt that power, we would be more inclined to try to move the mountains that presumably stand in our way(or at least that stand in our minds).

We have been given an amazing gift....Free Will......but if we do not use it wisely, we pay the price.

What's the buzz?

Ages ago when our God the Father and Mother Earth handed our beautiful planet Earth over to us humans, they entrusted us with the care of all of the species of living things beneath our feet. They gave us the amazing gift of free will to use our world to sustain us. But, they also gave us the job of stewardship. I am afraid we have not done such a good job of watching over that which was so lovingly left in our care. I awoke today to the sound of Mother Earth weeping..........

If you read my Farmgirl Ramblings blog, I posted a section entitled "Where have all the bees gone". This addresses the current situation that researchers have called Colony Collapse Disorder. For some unknown reason, bee colonies all over the world are disappearing. This is potentially catastrophic to our world and to ourselves. 80% of the world's agriculture is dependant upon bee pollination. In other words....no bees...no plants. No plants...no world. This may seem oversimplified, but it is an illustration of just how critical this problem is!

As I was enjoying the honey in my tea this morning, a news segment aired saying that a German study has early evidence showing that cell phones may be the cause of our honey bees' demise. If that is the case, the problem is huge...and very scary. In light of how the present Bush Administration has handled the evidence that global warming is a major threat to our planet (by denying its very existence), I am afraid that if cell phones in fact are the cause of this current dilemna, again nothing will be done to correct this potentially devastating situation.

We can no longer allow our politicians who have sold their souls to large, powerful corporations to destroy our world. And we can no longer sit by our televisions and watch complacently as countless species disappear forever. With each disappearance, Mother Earth grows weaker. We are failing her....we are failing each other...we are failing ourselves. How scarey does it need to become before we can convince the individuals who enact policy that changes are needed? At what point will it be too late?

Earth-friendly consumerism

Dear reader, I am asking you to change the way you shop. I propose that you begin with one new change each time you grocery shop. I would like to suggest that you begin with your household cleaning products. There are several lines of household and laundry products that are earth friendly in their ingredients. These products are made from vegetable based ingredients rather than petroleum based ones. I, personally, have switched to Seventh Generation laundry soap. If my laundry is particularly soiled I add some 20 Mule Team Borax to that load for an added boost. I feel like this is a step in the right direction. Now, if manufacturers could come up with a different type of packaging material that would not add such a large load on our landfills, that would be even better...but at least they come in recylclable containers.

I have also begun purchasing Mrs. Meyers cleaning supplies....dishwashing and dishwasher detergents, window and countertop cleaners and scrubbing powder. They come in a yummy, fresh lemon verbena fragrance, so the house smells terrific.

It is a small change, but it makes a difference. First of all, with these products you are no longer dumping toxic phosphates and petroleum products back into the water supply. Also because petroleum is used in the manufacturing process, we can reduce our oil consumption with these products. They are milder on your skin and they are pet friendly. There are no toxic fumes being released in your house to degrade the air quality. The list of advantages goes on and on. I thing perhaps the only disadvantage might be the price. They are a little more expensive than the run-of-the-mill off-the-shelf brands, but to me it is worth it in the end. I would pay a little extra to help protect our environment. Will you please consider it, too?