When Blessings Don't Look Like Blessings

It turns out the Murphy of Murphy's Law was a real person. Which is good, because in the next life I'm gonna have some questions for him.

I have one day a week when I can reasonably run errands and do projects. So, on my day off this week, my wife and I made ambitious plans to finish all our Christmas shopping, go to the library, and pick up some milk.

And, lucky us, we just happened to find some cash in our basement. A Christmas miracle!

Enter Murphy.

It was bad enough we still couldn't find any gifts in our price range for the people on our list. But then, on our way out of a parking lot to try the next store . . . our car died.

As in, "call a tow truck" dead.

Don't let the cute toys fool you. This ain't fun.
Image credit: Dickie Toys

I didn't say anything for a moment as my blood pressure rose. I may have steamed more than the car did. On my one day off, I thought. I don't have the time or the money for this!

I called my favorite towing company. Because this has happened enough that I have a favorite towing company (but we can't buy a new car yet because we keep spending our money to just be able to drive our current one--a terrible cycle).

Their soonest available truck was at least two hours out. And it was cold, and I was mad, and my mechanic wouldn't be open in two hours.

I took a moment to breathe. Then I used my handy-dandy smartphone to google other towing companies and got a truck out with just enough time for my mother-in-law to take my wife and kids home.

The repairs ended up using all that cash we found in our basement.

And there went my day off, too.

Image credit: Giphy

I don't write this to complain. I don't want pity. I don't want money. An extra day off might be nice, but you can't give me that.

I only bring this up to point out that, more often than we realize, blessings don't really look like blessings.

And our family car breaking down when it did truly was a blessing.

The next day, my wife had planned to visit her sister in a town thirty miles away. While I don't doubt she would have been capable of handling the problem, I'm glad it happened close to home and at a time when I could be there.

The tow company that came to our aid ended up being more affordable than the company we normally use.

And that money we just happened to find that morning? That definitely looked like a blessing at the start; we just didn't realize what kind. We were meant to use it for our car repairs so we wouldn't completely break the bank.

Image credit: Giphy

Sometimes we think of miracles as these grand, once- or twice-in-a-lifetime moments when the heavens open up and God's voice thunders from the clouds. A cancer patient is miraculously cured. A baby, born blue in the face, miraculously breathes. A boulder miraculously misses a car on a mountain road.

And those are miracles.

But we can easily forget that small miracles surround us every single day. Some may be obvious blessings: arriving to work on time despite heavy traffic; a presentation turning out much better than expected; a friend sending a much-needed text.

Other blessings may come disguised--but they're miracles, too. Like the time I missed my bus to school . . . but discovered the train was not only more comfortable, but also faster. Or the time I failed a class and had to delay my graduation . . . but gained skills and friends I couldn't leave college without.

Or the time my car died on my day off . . . but I had the time and money to take care of it.

When life gets heavy, pause and take a look around. The miracles will surprise you.