ordinary |ˈôrdnˌerē|
adjective
1 with no special or distinctive features; normal : he sets out to depict ordinary people | it was just an ordinary evening. See note at normal .
• uninteresting; commonplace : ordinary items of everyday wear.
My ipod has over 6,000 songs the majority of them I know. When I drive I sometimes put on ‘shuffle songs’ which reveals tunes never heard until now. Some of them are unappealing (Someone likes tunes by a Mr. Eninem, whose nasty lyrics make my eyes cross) but a few turn out to be gems.
Today I heard a woman singing “Ordinary Miracle”. I forget the actual lyrics for I was in heavy traffic at the time. I liked the idea. She was singing how she encounters everyday marvelous things most people miss because they are mundane. It got me thinking….
Every morning I wake up which is a sort of miracle in itself. I’ve been granted another day of life. It gives me pause for thanks.
I often observe the sun rise as I drive to work. Sunrise too is a sort of ordinary miracle – our staid planet keeps turning; we haven’t blown it up (yet).
Most of my job consists of getting patients to wait out this or that illness or crisis, for the body is remarkable at healing itself if we don’t interfere with its healing process. It is absolutely amazing how our body works; considering all that can go wrong with it, the human body remains one of the most astounding machines in Nature.
The companionship of a dog is also a miracle. Many species have evolved together in harmony, but this pairing has love.
Spo-fans will snicker a bit perhaps, but a cup of tea is a miracle. The tea plant could not be better designed. Tea is mildly addicting (so it is coveted), stimulating (so it benefits, not harms, the mind), and it is full of good things for health. The preparation and drinking of tea are linked with social intercourse (very good or our health indeed). Finally it is one of the great drink ‘bargains’, so it is readily available to all.
And then there is sunset with the subsequent stars of the night skies. Although I have seen them every night for nearly 50 years, they still touch upon the Numinous.
Ordinary Miracles. The day is full of them. Stop and notice.
27 comments
January 5, 2011 at 2:08 AM
Laurent
I could not agree more, there are lots of things in our life which are ordinary miracles every single day. We just have to stop and think a little bit. Waking up from surgery is one of them, when you think that while under the surgeons knife all manners of things could go very wrong and someone is watching you to ensure that all is normal.
January 5, 2011 at 2:17 AM
jason
I do not snicker at all. You are absolutely right, and although it’s hard to believe somtimes, I think it’s important to realize just how much of a miracle pretty much everything is.
January 5, 2011 at 4:10 AM
Lemuel
Thank you for the reminder.
January 5, 2011 at 4:33 AM
Sean
I see the amazingness and awesomeness of the world and life every day and am glad for it…even when my emotions cloud my appreciation of it sometimes, each day I notice something that awes me…hell, I can still be amazed by the wind, or driving, or having a dog in my house that brings me joy or the sheer pleasure of an orgasm…none of it becomes commonplace to me…I don’t know where we’ll evolve to from here, but we’re already living in an awe inspiring universe…too bad more people aren’t aware of it and appreciate it. Natural or man made, there are so many astounding things to be aware of and grateful for…especially connecting with people we might not ever have met. Humanity and nature rock when they’re not fucking things up.
January 5, 2011 at 4:52 AM
Tai
This is a beautiful piece of writing. Thanks, Spo!
January 5, 2011 at 5:33 AM
Hanuman Das
“A mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.” – Walt Whitman
January 5, 2011 at 5:48 AM
justjock
there is nothing quite as awe or miracle inspiring as our sunrise and sunset. for a few brief moments everyday, the sky makes me believe in things beyond mundane reality
January 5, 2011 at 6:48 AM
Cubby
There are so many folks who love tea and would prefer nothing else. I would love to try it, but don’t know where to start. Sure, I’ve had tea made with teabags, but I heard that’s rubbish and doesn’t count. Maybe I’ll go buy “Tea for Dummies”.
Someone likes Eminem? If my husband revealed that to me I’d blast Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” over and over until he got the hint.
January 5, 2011 at 7:14 AM
Urspo
Someone and I both have ‘forbidden music’ viz. music the other one would sooner eat rats in Tewkesbury than hear it. So we play these forbidden bits when the other is not around – or when the other IS around to get their dander up. He has Eminem; I have Enya. What a couple.
As for tea – that is like saying you are interest in wine, where do you start? So many types, styles etc. I would find a local tea shoppe and get some samples of green oolong and black teas (no rubbish) and try a few out.
Or perhaps this is inspiration for a new blog entry ……… yes !
January 5, 2011 at 7:53 AM
D. Dave
A point worth bringing up? Never fall victim to fearing implied racism for disdaining rap: civil rights giant and former Carter administration UN Ambassador Andrew Young also does not like rap. Neither does Placido Domingo, but what does he know? I ventured in ‘Comments’ once that perhaps your and Someone’s relationship (like Stephen’s and mine) was somewhat founded on opposites attracting. Eminem and Enya? Case closed.
January 5, 2011 at 7:23 AM
Jay
Yes please, a primer on tea. And thank you for your thoughts which came to me via the ordinary (or maybe not so ordinary) miracle (definitely a miracle) of the Internets.
January 5, 2011 at 7:44 AM
Sylvia
Beautiful post. I am sharing your thoughts on tea with my granddaughter, who discovered tea, not coffee, when she went to university.
January 5, 2011 at 8:25 AM
Bill J
Will the opening line for the tea essay be “Let me go put the kettle on…” ?
January 5, 2011 at 5:25 PM
Urspo
hohoho a good opening line, indeed; I may use it.
January 5, 2011 at 8:43 AM
AjohnP
Excellent post….thank you for the reminder. 🙂
If you think of it, peek and see who it was that was singing the song. One of my all-time favorite singers sings a song called ‘Ordinary Miracles’ and I’d be curious to see if it was the same person.
January 5, 2011 at 5:25 PM
Urspo
Sarah M.
January 5, 2011 at 9:03 AM
A. Lewis
Oh no, I will not snicker….tea, and puppies, and each day are indeed miracles. And the song makes me cry every single time I hear it….it reminds me of Mason. And then I have to go run over to him and kiss him on the head. And that’s when the tears start. Miracles are what make this world go ’round — and they are everywhere, everyday….if we look.
January 5, 2011 at 5:14 PM
Ron
An inspired post Spo. This is why I like you. We are on the same wavelength in our view of the miracle of life. I have always been fascinated with sunrises and sunsets. To me they are the perfect metaphor for life. Their beauty, mystery and promise of the unknown yet to be. Every day I wake up I am reborn again. I look at the stars in the skies and wonder how many and how far they go into space. I think with the same wonder and I think of my existence that came from my father, through his father, and his father ad infinitum. Our very existance is a miracle that perhaps, too many, don’t appreciate and take for granted. Not I nor, apparently, do you. Thank you for this beautiful post Spo.
January 5, 2011 at 6:32 PM
anne marie in philly
the sound of my cat purring
dew on blades of grass
silence
it’s the little things in life that make life worth living.
January 5, 2011 at 9:39 PM
Raybob
You are definitely a man after my own heart 🙂
AND you have my absolutely favorite constellation in that second picture! Yay 🙂
I was thinking of miracles today as I was thanking the Pachamama and the Sky Father for the unending cascade of blessings we receive – we are made of earth; her minerals literally form our bodies, and seawater runs in our veins. The millions of molecules that make us were forged in the hearts of stars long ago obliterated; into these molecules, *somehow* was breathed the life we are living.
Now *that’s* a miracle for everyday.
January 6, 2011 at 12:26 AM
Walt
Barbra Streisand also sang a song called “Ordinary Miracles,” but I suspect it’s not the same song that Sarah sang.
January 6, 2011 at 2:30 PM
wanderer
@Laurent – You do mean the anaesthesiologist, don’t you? I’m not sure I’d leave it all to the to the Other Guy 🙂
January 6, 2011 at 5:29 PM
Kris
This post made me smile 🙂
January 7, 2011 at 6:29 AM
Shawn
Thank you!
I have been away on vacation a few days and stayed away from my computer too.
You posted this on my birthday.
Thank you for that as it is beautiful.
January 7, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Urspo
happy belated birthday! I hope this next year is your best one yet.
January 7, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Mark H
Couldn’t have found a more welcome felt story for new years…..Thank you, Dr.
January 17, 2011 at 6:07 AM
Benton
Thanks for this, it is so easy to forget.
When I was in college, my work-study job was running the planetarium. (I know, BEST work-study job ever!) I wanted to get a t-shirt that said, “Celestial Phenomenon Alert!” on it. So often it seems people go through life and never look up.