The essence of what this aphorism is trying to convey is that everything in existence: from the smallest sub-atomic particles, all the way up to galaxies; from single droplets of water to the vast oceans and from amoebas to elephants, all perfectly unique and uniquely perfect. The fact that these things even exist is a miracle in, and of, itself.

Likewise, the motions of the planets, the spinning of a spider web, the movement of light, the forces of gravity and even the process of digesting our food - simply amazing.

Perhaps some would argue that these items and processes aren’t miraculous, they are just ‘things in nature’, they are just ‘the way things work’ and nothing to be considered special and especially not something miraculous.

Well, to that I would simply say, “Can you please create something so simple for me?” In all our wisdom, with all our machines and innovations, we can’t even create a simple, single celled organism. From a single seed, Mother Nature can create an entire forest. We can harness electricity, we can see gravity at work, but have we ever created such forces? You drop something and it falls down, that sounds pretty simple doesn’t it?

Science currently tells us that everything, EVERYTHING, is made up of subatomic particles, particles that are so small that we can’t see them and we can only theorize that they actually exist, yet we can’t even create such simple structures.

Still not convinced? Ok, here is the heavy one, “Can you please show me, or even just tell me, how to create something from nothing?” The universe created something from nothing, or at least so we think, and if that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is. How is it that there were no animals, no plants, no organisms of any kind, then things went boom and suddenly there are living things? From nothingness, to ‘stuff’ to ‘living stuff’ seems like a heck of a miracle to me.

Statisticians might be able to tell you the odds of an eyeball being created through the process of evolution - from the basic building blocks of the planet - but nobody has yet to provide me with a suitable explanation of how to get something for nothing. The ancient Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius supports me in this idea when he said, "Nil posse creari de nilo (nothing can be created from nothing)." OK, both Lucretius and I do need to make an exception here and say that nobody, other than the government, has figured out how to get something from nothing.

Anyway, if we just pause and contemplate our surroundings we realize that EVERYTHING we see, hear, smell etc., is nothing more than energy vibrating at different speeds. The flower you smell, the colours on an artist's palette, the stone you stub your toe on, and, for that matter, (pun intended) even your toe: just energy vibrating.

Now, please understand that this has nothing to do with me saying that I consciously have THE answers to life’s mysteries, I am not saying that we haven’t come a long way in ‘figuring things out’, what I am saying is that everything around us came to be through a process that defies explanation and, to this point in time, is not reproducible. And, even if we were able to create a simple plant seed from ‘scratch’ we aren’t really creating it from scratch, we are using materials that have already been provided to us; therefore, I believe that in the final analysis we come to see, or at least accept, the idea that nature, everything that is both seen and unseen, is indeed a miracle.

If we can accept the idea that there are no small miracles, that indeed everything is a miracle, then perhaps we will finally appreciate how unique and special ALL of it is. If everything is a miracle, then we see that there is no ‘greater’ or ‘lesser’, it is all equally WOW!

IN OTHER WORDS:
“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” -Jack Kornfield
“Creation is a miracle. Life is a miracle.”-Bernie Siegel
“There are only two ways to live your life: one is as though nothing is a miracle, and the other is as though everything is a miracle.” -Albert Einstein
“As to me, I know of nothing else but miracles...” -Walt Whitman