I was thinking about the power that words have to alter our lives and it occurred to me that perhaps the most powerful word I know, aside from "God" is the word "magic."
Think about it. From the time you were a child and first heard that word, and likely saw a magician on television or on stage, that word, MAGIC, was potent and mysterious, filled with endless possibilities.
It's sad that so often people are very cynical about the word magic, even more so about the possibility that it might actually exist in the world. I feel strongly that magic does exist, and instead of being cynical about that, we should allow for magic to be revealed to us.
When I was a kid I always watched magicians like Doug Henning and David Copperfield with great enjoyment, trying to figure out how they had fooled me. That's all the word magic really meant to me -- illusion. Or fantasy, in a Disney-esque sort of way. Waving a magic wand was one of my favorite games as a child.I made many "wands" out of drinking straws and tinfoil.
As I have grown older and lived through some very difficult times I have been shown, over and over, that magic does, in fact, exist. Just last night I was feeling discouraged and sad about a situation with someone I love, and within minutes the phone rang. That conversation lifted my spirits dramatically. It reminded me that instead of feeling cynical or dismissive about magic, we should instead embrace that word.
When we allow for possibility of magic, we allow for faith, and for healing.
Proof
When I was in college one of my favorite classes was Logic. I was awful at traditional math but I loved Logic. I could take word problems and construct beautiful, airtight proofs using my favorite tools -- words. So I was thinking, could I construct some sort of proof regarding magic? The result is below. Simple, yes, but that's okay. Sometimes the most simple things are the most powerful things.
Love = Magic
God = Love
Therefore, God = Magic
I know my very traditional friends and relatives who read that last part might be taken aback, particularly if they have a rigid mindset about God. Many folks I know would consider it disrespectful or perhaps even blasphemous to say God equals magic but think about the bible. Over and over, there are stories of miracles. What is a miracle if it's not evidence of magic? Moses parted the Red Sea. Think about Jesus feeding the multitudes with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.What about Jesus rising from the dead? Doesn't get any more magic than that..
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” [Gandhi]
A few years ago I had to have a hysterectomy because some cancer cells were found in my uterus. I am fine now, but the word "cancer" is certainly a wake-up call. I saw cancer ravage my father. I knew it's terrible power. I also knew that it's a word that can change a person for the better. You don't really appreciate simple beauty like a flower, or the song of as bird, or a baby's smile, until you realize that life is finite, and we should enjoy life while we are still here. So cancer is not always a closing off. Sometimes it's an opening up, a way to fully appreciate the beauty all around us. So now I try to actually live as if I am going to die tomorrow. Who knows? I might. I am not afraid of it, though.
Life = Magic
I figured out a while back that if I stop learning, I will be a miserable person. I learn all the time, for the joy of it, not for a grade. As children we so often lose the love of learning, bogged down with homework and tests and obligations. That's unfortunate. As adults, we are blessed if we can re-discover the joy of learning. The energy of learning is its own kind of magic.
Lately I have been learning about how to think about my life in a way that helps me to be more satisfied, and at times even happy.
What we think becomes our truth. I forget who said that originally, but it's a powerful idea. I have been trying to re-order my thoughts. I tend to worry too much. Worry accomplishes nothing except to make me mentally weary, afraid and discouraged. Instead of worry, I try to just pray. I think about the person or situation that worries me, and I ask God to handle it. Sometimes the answer is that there's something I need to do, of course, to assist that process. I am always given that knowledge of what to do, and of course it feels good to be part of the process. Sometimes, though, the best thing is to mentally step aside and let God handle it.
If you think about it, there's a lot of energy in our thoughts. What are we, really, except intelligent animals, separated [perhaps] from other animals by our ability to reason? Our minds are the engines that drive us.
Learning = Magic
“Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.” [Gandhi]
Faith has to be the greatest fuel of the mind. Faith, at its core, is the ability to trust in something unseen.
Faith = Magic
I interviewed a lady for my blog not long ago and one of the twenty questions I ask interviewees is "Do you believe in God?" About 99% of the time when I ask folks that question, I hear "Yes." This lady didn't say anything. I said "It's okay to say no. I have no issue with that." So she explained that her mindset was geared toward science. I asked her if she believed in love, and she said yes. (Just FYI, she is one of the kindest, most loving people I've ever met.) I just said "Well, in my book, then, you do believe in God, because God IS love." She didn't argue about it. I wasn't trying to convert her to anything. I just wanted her to give that idea some thought.
So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” [John, 4:48]
Jesus knew the power of miracles was twofold: the miracle itself, and its power to turn doubters into believers. Most of us tend towards cynicism and doubt. How easy it is to doubt. How difficult it is to look at a scary situation and have faith that God can and will work some magic -- and perhaps even go so far as produce a miracle -- to help us out.
Miracles happen every day. Ask any nurse or doctor. Ask almost anyone over the age of 70. Ask anyone who survived the Holocaust.
The final thought I want to leave you with is this: get out of your own way. Stop thinking too much. Over-thinking an issue has always been my downfall but I am determined now to generate new thoughts, new energy, renewed faith -- all so that life will retain it's sweetness, and worry won't be the overwhelming sickness I generate on my own. Faith is sometimes only possible when God reveals to us his magic, and that's okay.
photo courtesy of Linda Hasty Harris
