When I bought my Christmas stamps from the post office this year, I got a lovely surprise. The stamps are gorgeous, actual photos of four different snowflakes. A clever photographer developed a new method of capturing individual flakes and keeping them cold while he photographed them. So beautiful, and such a lovely reminder of the everyday miracles we experience. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two miracles are, either.
I believe in miracles, but the ones that are important to me don’t involve big, showy events. I like the everyday miracles: The food we eat becomes body cells, muscles, thoughts and even emotions. Our brains and nerves generate and conduct electricity to create our thoughts, ideas, mental habits and even our personalities. Our bodies can be wounded and somehow regenerate muscle, skin and blood to heal, often without a trace. The best miracle in my life is other people. They show up when I need them. They care about me. They often cause me to laugh or cry. They introduce me to new ideas, and new ways of looking at things. They bring everyday magic into our lives. We are surrounded by the wondrous every day, most of it unexplained as yet by science, and we so often fail to notice.
Seeds are miracles. From a tiny package, some so small you can hardly see them, plants and trees grow. Every seed contains in it all the DNA that creates the plants we eat, the flowers we enjoy, the trees that shade and feed us.
Each of us is also a miracle. We grow from tinier seeds than plants do, from a miracle that combines the DNA from each of our parents to create the unique miracle each of us becomes. And we pass the miracles on. Each time we are kind and loving, every time we help and care for one another, each time we have a new idea, or create something, we are participating in the larger miracles of life. We are the angels who bring the miracles to life. What an awesome, inspiring and joyous thing it is, this astounding life we get to be a part of.
ANGELS IN DISGUISE
Lyric: Tina Tessina
Music: Ron Creager
Through your busy Holidays you may not notice much
How many hands are giving and how many lives are touched
Turkey dinners, Meals on Wheels fill hearts and stomachs, too
Toys for Tots brings Christmas treats where hope is overdue
A solitary senior hesitates to cross the street
The kindness of a stranger's arm steadies her feet
A child, lost and frightened, and his frantic Mom
Are quickly reunited by a shopclerk's intercom
CHORUS: Wake up Christmas morning
open up your eyes
everywhere you look are
angels in disguise
Who's to say that Christmas
is the only day?
if you'll only let them
the Angels come to stay
Every thoughtful gesture, every selfless gift
Eases someone’s heartache, gives a needed lift
Ordinary people, even you and I
can be Angel agents, and allow our hearts to fly
BRIDGE: Was that little windfall in
your empty-pocket days
Really accidental, or did
Angels pave the way?
This holiday season, I wish you the joy of being part of the miracle, and being aware of it.
© 2006 From the Happiness Tips Newsletter www.tinatessina.com
Author Bio:
Tina B. Tessina, Ph.D., (www.tinatessina.com) is a licensed psychotherapist in S. California, with over 25 years experience in counseling individuals and couples and author of 11 books, including It Ends With You: Grow Up and Out of Dysfunction (New Page); How to Be a Couple and Still Be Free (New Page); The Unofficial Guide to Dating Again (Wiley) and The Real 13th Step: Discovering Self-Confidence, Self-Reliance and Independence Beyond the Twelve Step Programs (New Page.) Two new books will be out from Adams Press in 2007. She publishes the "Happiness Tips from Tina" e-mail newsletter and has hosted "The Psyche Deli: delectable tidbits for the subconscious" a weekly hour long radio show. She is an online expert, answering relationship questions at www.CouplesCompany.com and Yahoo!Personals, as well as a Redbook Love Network expert and "Psychology Smarts" columnist for First for Women. Dr. Tessina guests frequently on radio, and on such TV shows as "Oprah", "Larry King Live" and ABC news.
