I just love this photo. When I see cows, they’d usually be grazing. Their heads bowed, they’d be feeding on the grass slowly and leisurely masticating their food. This cow seems to be looking out into the horizon, ruminating on life rather than on its food. Often, I am like a cow. I have my head close to the ground, engrossed on my daily food and surviving the day. But I know I am most human when I look out into the horizon and pondering the deeper meaning of life and taking in all the beauty and goodness before me. Then, I am immersed in the grandeur of the universe and love and kindness and the fullness of existence enfolds me.
One of the thoughts that would often engulf me during such moments is the realization that life is full of miracle. In fact, life is a miracle. Often, miracles are associated with a dramatic turnaround of events, like an instant healing of a serious illness. Life’s daily miracles are nothing of that sort though. They are small, slow and often painful turns for the better. Just as the sun creeps slowly over the hills at dawn or sinks ever so unhurriedly over the horizon, so does the realization of God’s grace and presence in these small miracles transform us bit by bit. Patience. Presence. Prayer. I believe that God giving us our daily bread, or grass, is a far greater miracle than winning in the lotto.
If life is a daily miracle, why am I so often insistent in looking for a sign of God’s miraculous presence in my life? A baby needs no words nor any other sign than the warm embrace of the mother to know that she is present to ease his pains or allay his anxieties. My ears have been deafened by all the noise around me. My eyes have been blinded by the glitter of false gold and fake treasures. My heart has been hardened by the many little cares I have burdened myself with. I have been jaundiced by my pride, selfishness and greed. I only need to see the grandeur there is in nature or the goodness there is people I have been blessed with to realize that there is a loving Presence that guides and leads my daily life into untold and often unseen miracles. I need to be like that cow, raise up my head and look out into the deeper and wider horizon of life.