The Power of Connection in Miracles

There are instances in our lives when we cannot understand why certain things happen. Some people call them coincidences. Others believe they are miracles. Still others discount them as mere chance. Let me share a personal experience with you. You decide whether it’s a coincidence, chance or miracle. I was living in the Boston area, and my daughter Laura, was about three years old. Our steady babysitter was a family friend. One day I let her borrow my car to run an errand. She came from a large family, and when she stopped at her house, one of her older brothers “took” the car. I spent the whole next day on the phone with the police, frantically trying to locate my car. In desperation, I called my father, who was working in New York City. He reassured me that no matter how things turned out, everything was going to be okay. The day after we spoke, in the late afternoon, my father called me and said, ‘You are not going to believe what I’m about to tell you. Today, instead of walking my usual route to the parking lot, I walked down a different street and there was your car on this side street in the middle of downtown Manhattan!” This was a ‘one in a million shot,’ to use my father’s words at the time, and I was stunned but also thrilled that my father found my car. He immediately called the police. When the officers got there, they decided to remove the distributor so no one could start the car. My father took the distributor with him and called me as soon as he got home. Since my father worked in New York City, he said he would go back the next morning to make arrangements to get my car back home. The next morning, when my father went to the street where the car had been parked, the car was gone. When he called to tell me the bad news, I told him the good news! My babysitter’s older brother, after taking my car on a joyride, realized his mistake and returned it to me in Boston. She told me later how panicked he was when he realized the distributor was missing. We eventually got it all worked out. What makes this story so amazing is that my father was able to find my car 250 miles from home in a city of tens of millions of people. The chances of coincidentally finding his daughter’s stolen car were miraculous. I believe there was a higher power at work. I believe it was fueled by prayer, trust and interconnectedness. I believe it included the power of a father’s love for his daughter. My father and I have always had a deep connection - a psychic connection of sorts. It was ironic that he would be the one to find my car, especially under the peculiar circumstances. I’m still amazed when I think about the extraordinary ramifications of my “lost car” miracle. So, what defines a miracle? Think about it…and remember when a miracle happened in your life and how you were impacted.