Making things is signing up for the Miracle Business.
I don’t know how songs arrive in my head. But when I enlist, when I show up, when I declare “Open for Business” - they arrive. Miraculously.
I’m not saying I make great works of art, I’m just explaining that the nature of their arrival is a bit miraculous to me.
Sometimes they arrive fully formed. Sometimes, they wake me up at night. Sometimes I have to chisel away for days, and spin and spin in my head, until I get to that sculpture I can see in my soul.
This is strange, and fun, and miraculous to me. Moreover, the songs have my voice in them. They have an identity to them. They have my Fingerprint on them.
But they aren’t works of my will. In a way, they moved Through me.
They’re not really From me.
My wife and I are about to have our third child in June. A much cooler miracle.
Having another baby has reminded me how miraculous the whole process is.
Our little one will be brought into this world through my lovely wife. Through her struggle, through her care, through sacrifice, through joy, through pleasure, through pain… through love…
Through.
And this baby will have it’s very own Fingerprint, it’s own personality, expressions, loves, nuances, talents, dreams and gifts.
That’s the Miracle Business at its best.
And maybe it’s because babies are being born all the time, that we call it Normal.
And Normal has a dangerous way of spreading throughout our entire way of believing. Starting with our perception, right to the heart of our dreams, and piercing, sometimes with a harsh permanence, the foundation of our faith.
And so we subscribe to Normal. And then we expect Normal. And so, miracles become weird to us.
But guess what, Miracles are normal.
I encounter so many things each day that don’t even come close to having an explanation (Beauty, for example). And I have stopped pretending that I can or need to explain them. It cuts in to the time I have to enjoy them! Case in point, Baby #3.
I don’t know if you believe in the Miracle Business but I’m here to tell you that you are already in it whether you like it or not. In fact, you are the product of it. You are Through, not From - just like every other new born that grew up, put on shoes, and is currently walking the earth right now.
Your wishes, your dreams (especially the daunting ones), your voice, your handwriting, your way of speaking, your DNA, your vision, your awesome smile, your goals, your haunting fears, your sufferings that have so definitively shaped you, and finally your Fingerprint…
Ah, yes - The Fingerprint.
That ever so present reminder that everything you touch today has your signature on it. The one you didn’t give yourself. The one that was given to you when you were born Through not From.
We are all the product of the Miracle Business. And I don’t think it’s arrogant for any of us to say “I’m in the Miracle Business.”
After all, when we are writing, or running, or painting, or cooking, or coaching, or leading, or loving, or building, or healing, or holding, or speaking, or singing, or protecting, or dancing…
or just trying to write another humble little song…
We’re not the maker of that which is being made.
We’re just the vehicle. We’re just the messenger.
Through… not From.
And yet - miraculously - these products of the Miracle Business do in fact have our Fingerprints on them.
I wonder if that’s why He gave us Fingerprints in the first place?