Meaningless miracles

I think I'm like everybody else. Wouldn't it be nice if God could just bail us out

miraculously every time things got hard? If I'm low on money, or if I need a new car, could I just find a gold brick on the front porch that says "congratulations - this is your gift today from God".

Wouldn't it be nice if He could do that sort of thing? Think of how much easier my life would be? Except that he better not give my neighbors more gifts and miracles than me - that would really piss me off. What if I got a new car - a lambo maybe - and what if my neighbor got a house? How would that be fair? Wow, God must really be an unfair being - playing favorites and all.

OK, so I went down a road that's not going to happen, because their are no free gold bricks, free cars or free houses - at least that I'm directly aware of. But it does indicate that our own greed and self centered nature can prevent us from being grateful for the gifts and miracles that are and were sent our way.

We've all seen this scene as well: we pray earnestly for a miracle. It happens, and then we say, "well, I guess aunt Janie healed up after all" or "thank goodness we got that lucky break/service from neighbor Joe. He's a really good guy".

The Nephites were good at it too. 3 Nephi 1 talks about the run-up to the birth of the Savior. It had been predicted that on this day, there would be a day, night & day with no night. In the meantime, there were miracles happening, but not this particular one yet. Other miracles were blown off, because they weren't THE miracle that had been predicted. "4...there began to be greater signs and greater miracles wrought among the people", but hey - if it ain't THE miracle, it doesn't count, right? "6 And they began to rejoice over their brethren, saying: behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been in vain."

Man, I hate it when others are joyful. Now that really ruins my day.

But spreading it heavy on the believers got old. They're still joyful after I abuse them. How to deal with this if I'm a non believer and they're still happy? Easy - I just set a date to kill them. "9...there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass."

So, as the story goes, the unbelievers were foiled again. The proper miracle happens. Do they decide then to become saints and followers of all things joyful? You guessed it. "there began to be lyings sent forth among the people by Satan, to harden their hearts."

More miracles happened. Been there, done that. Miracles are routine now, and they get dismissed. The unbelievers  in "3 Nephi 2:2  began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven...and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen".

It seems to me that miracles don't really make much difference in the long run. If I have a poisonous or a poisoned soul, I will choose to stay there. It's the sewage pit that I have selected for myself, and absolutely nobody is going to pull me out of it. This is the state of the Nephites shortly after Christ's birth in Jerusalem.

It nearly finished them. In the greatest moment of time - Christ's life here on earth - the Nephites were almost made extinct before their visit by Christ here, and caused it by their own evil nature. The many miracles exhibited at the time appear to have made no difference at all.

We can look at our own lives through this prism. As inhabitants of our world and our country, does our culture kill freedom? People? Do my personal choices kill my body? Do they kill my spirit? Have I cut off the divine guidance and yes, miracles, that Christ is waiting to give me?

I suspect it's better to live in the warm daily embrace of God than to have a gold

brick delivered daily. Better to live in love among others around us, to build and be built by them, than live in a house that's a few thousand square feet bigger. Better to anticipate death and a reunion with my loved ones, and with my beautiful Redeemer, than to live with fear and loathing about the end of my days on earth. Better to be gently guided by those on the other side who wish to help me, than to feel alone. It's not an empty world, full of hateful, selfish, angry outsiders, unless I chose to become one of them.

I can surround myself with light and become a lighthouse of my own. And in doing so, the light I reflect, and the light reflected back to me will fill my soul.

That's a miracle.