I am writing this thought on a flight to Miami.

Lori and I are visiting dear friends, doing business, and looking to exhale.

This morning has been filled with standard mild headaches: a question whether our bags would get on the flight (we're still a little traumatized from our last flight), an overbooked plane, crying babies, and sardine-packed adults.

Lori is next to a young couple who is unable to quiet their toddler.

I am entirely too close to two grown women, one of whom pretty much sits in my lap every time she chooses to catch some z's.

Still, I am 36,000 feet in the air, traveling 500 miles an hour, with WiFi. And in two short hours, I will be in Miami, where I will (maybe) look slightly less silly in shorts.

So the trip is a thousand minor annoyances in the midst of a miracle.

And Lori transforms her situation by offering the struggling couple her aisle seat, which they don’t take, but which takes the tension out of the moment. Now we’re all on board. Now we’re a team comforting a baby together.

Now the trip is one less minor annoyance in the midst of two miracles.

But for me it's a decent description of life.

The headaches will never stop, but neither will the wonder.

Today, I’m fairly confident you are facing your own thousand minor annoyances. You can’t do everything you want to do. People don’t keep their word. The resources aren’t there. The process is too long. Your car breaks down on the way.

I pray you weather them well, but I also pray you find your miracle.

And you may be facing more serious problems: a bad diagnosis. The loss of a loved one. A heartbreaking betrayal. A financial crisis.

I pray that you take it one step at time, and I pray you find your miracle.

Sometimes finding your miracle is as simple as choosing gratitude.

If you spent any time in a church over the years, you may have found yourself in a testimony service, in which people, each Sunday, would take a moment, in the midst of songs and scriptures, to share a point of gratitude from their week or their day

Sometimes they were epic. And sometimes they were simple.

I’m thankful I woke up this morning.

I’m thankful I was able to get here.

I’m thankful I am in my right mind.

I’m thankful for a reasonable portion of health and strength.

Sometimes they were expressions of gratitude for things a person could choose to bemoan.

I’m thankful for my husband, even though he drives me crazy.

I’m thankful for my job, even though I wish it paid more.

I’m thankful I’m in school, even though the process gives me anxiety.

I’m thankful for my life thus far, even though I want to accomplish more.

And all of these things occurred against the backdrop of a thousand minor headaches, and a number of serious concerns.

But every week, they found their miracle. 

Sometimes we’re so busy complaining about the trip that we don’t even notice we’re flying.

May you find your miracle.

And may you enjoy your flight.

(Photo Credit: Alex Azabache)