Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Happy Sacred Sunday!
I am sitting at my desk on this Sacred Sunday trying to clearly and concisely articulate the miraculous experience I have just witnessed, and I gotta tell you — I’m not sure where this is going to go.
I’m still processing what happened and what it all means. So I’ve decided simply to share the story and see where that takes us. Maybe there will be more to write about in the future, or maybe I’ll figure things out in this article. Either way, I’m inviting you along for the ride because you’re my tribe.
THE BACKSTORY
My youngest son, Ryan, developed a cyst in his eye. At first, it was a small, barely noticeable bump, but it developed into an oddly shaped and very visible “thing” on his eyelid. It wasn’t painful, but it garnished a lot of attention, which really bothered the kid.
No one really knew what it was, but the doctors suspected it was a dermoid cyst. Except it wasn’t presenting as a “typical” cyst. It grew, changed shapes, bled, drained some weird waxy substance, grew again. It was WEIRD. The doctors assured me that although they didn’t know what it was, they knew what it WAS NOT. They were not concerned about it being a malignant tumor or anything, but they knew they had to get it out.
Every time I’d meet a new doctor, I’d tell them the same story:
When Ryan was 3-years-old, he was playing with his brother, fell, and hit that eye on the edge of his bunk bed. He cut his eye, and it immediately swelled. I took him to the emergency room, but they sent him home. (he didn’t even need stitches).
This cyst that developed is in the same spot where he got hit all those years ago.
I couldn’t help but think there had to be some correlation, but no one thought anything of it. They told me you are born with a dermoid cyst and chances are it was just a coincidence that he had eye trauma in that same place.
YOU’LL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED
On the date of the surgery, I met the actual surgeon who was going to perform the procedure.
Once again, I pulled up the pictures of my little 3-year-old, zoomed in to show him the cut he had on his eyelid, and told him the full story.
He thanked me for the history and took my son.
I was told the surgery would take 30 minutes to an hour and a half.
At about an hour and 20 minutes, I started experiencing anxiety. Why was it taking so long? Did something go wrong? Was he okay?
It had been almost 2 hours when the surgeon came to see me.
“He did great!” he reassured me, “But you will not believe what I found.”
Dr. K pulled out his phone to show me the picture.
Ryan had two pieces of wood in his eye. One piece was lodged in his bone.
My son has been walking around with pieces of wood in his eye for the last SEVEN YEARS.
JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN’T SEE IT, DOESN’T MEAN IT’S NOT THERE
So many people have asked Ryan the same question:
You never felt that piece of wood in your eye?
If you’ve ever gotten a splinter, you know how painful it is. This kid was walking around with a piece of wood much larger than any splinter stuck in his eye and he had no idea it was there.
He didn’t feel it, we couldn’t see it, and yet there it was. The external cyst was simply a clue nudging us to look inside.
That’s why it’s so important to dig deeper into the root of the issues you’re facing. What is behind the physical manifestation of what you’re experiencing? Are these clues inviting you to connect the dots and look beyond what’s on the surface?
THE MIRACLE
The surgeon was as shocked as I was. First, he thanked me for showing him the pictures of Ryan and telling him what had happened. He said that without that context, he would not have known what he was looking at when he found those pieces of matter in his eye.
Then, he expressed how lucky we were.
The wood could have traveled to his brain. It could have punctured his eye wall. Ryan could have gone blind or even died.
The biggest miracle may have been that he never got an infection of any kind. Dr. K explained that wood has mold and bacteria. Imagine if Ryan had developed unexplained fevers at some point. The eye had soaked up the wood like a sponge and it was undetectable. We would have not known the source of the infection or been able to link the infection/fevers to that eye trauma.
Over and over, Dr. K emphasized how lucky we had been.
It was miraculous — and we’ve been unknowingly living in that miracle since it happened 7 years ago.
I used to wonder if miracles actually happened. You hear about Jesus performing miracles like making a blind person see. I often question if that was true.
I used to think I had never seen an actual miracle take place.
But what if everything was a miracle?
What if you’re living a miracle and you just can’t see it?
We live with an illusion of control. We think things are exactly as we experience them. But there is so much more beyond what we perceive.
It’s all a huge mystery, and therein lies more miracles than we know.
On this Sacred Sunday, I invite you to ask more questions, be more curious, and dig deeper if you’re facing a challenge. Let this be a reminder that there is often more to an issue than what meets the eye. Stay open and never give up looking for answers.
Lastly, I encourage you to live “As if everything is a miracle.” May we be grateful for the all miracles, whether or not we know about them, that the Universe gives us each day. 
