All that’s required for a miracle is "a little willingness."
Do you believe the universe can take care of all of your needs in ways far more clever, creative and miraculous than you can imagine?
Last Thanksgiving a friend baked a large turkey at my home, most of which was left over. The real beneficiary of the day was my dog Munchie (the famous author), who inherited the treat of eating turkey for a month! When the turkey ran out, he refused to go back to eating dry food (he's no dummy) and I realized that I would have to get him another turkey. Being a vegetarian, however, I was not thrilled about walking into Safeway and buying one.
Not long before then, I was driving along a local highway when I noticed a police car behind me, and I began to feel nervous. Although I had not broken any laws, I did not like the idea of a cop following me. I realized that I must have been harboring some subconscious program about police, so I decided to reprogram it by affirming, "The police are my friends; they love me and want to help me." I relaxed into a comfortable feeling, and let it go.
One night just after Christmas I approached a police roadblock and I was pulled over. "I am officer K. of the Maui Police Department, and we are checking for drunk drivers. May I please see your license and documents?"
Sure, no problem. I gave the officer my papers, he looked them over, and handed them back to me.
"Hey Joe," I heard him call. "Come over here."
Why does he need Joe? I wondered.
Officer K. leaned back into my window and asked, "Would you like a turkey?"
"Excuse me?"
"We have a turkey for you. Would you like one?"
"Is this some kind of joke?"
"No. You are not drunk and your papers are in order. We would like to give you a turkey as reward."
Well, bless my giblets. My mother told me never to look a gift turkey in the mouth, especially when it comes from a police officer.
Before I could say, "Gobble, gobble," Lieutenant Joe was standing at my window, hand outstretched with a healthy-proportioned frozen Butterball turkey.
"Wait a minute!" Officer K. called out. "We have to get your picture."
I am not making this up.
So there I sat, under the floodlights of the Maui Police Holiday Roadblock on Route 31, posing with a dazed smile as Lieutenant Joe handed me, your model safe driver, and Munchie (in absentia), your model dog, a holiday present that went beyond any other I had received.
I laughed nearly all the way home. When I walked into my house I held the turkey up before Munchie and told him, "You are one heckuva manifester, mister." He just smiled.
Pizza Hut may deliver to your door, but when God delivers, you won't even have to get out of your car! Our lives, we discover, are created not so much by little thoughts, but by intention. The universe is always mirroring out inner choices.
Recently while I was overnighting at a hotel in South San Francisco, I called my friend Steve to confirm our appointment to meet for lunch the next day in Marin. Steve told me that his schedule had changed and asked if we could meet for breakfast instead. I told him that I would prefer not to have to drive through San Francisco rush hour traffic, but since we had not seen each other in a long time, if that was the only time he could meet, I would be willing to do it. I turned it over to God and let it go.
As I drove toward the city the next morning, I was pleased to find there was hardly any traffic. I moved through the heart of San Francisco and into Marin with ease, encountering less traffic than I have ever experienced in the area. Could it have been a holiday? To my delight, I arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early.
Steve looked surprised to see me. "How did you get here so quickly?" he asked. "I'm surprised you made it at all!"
"Why would you think that?" I asked.
"Because of the BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit] strike. The roads are glutted."
I looked past our table to a newspaper rack. The headline shouted, "BART Strike Cripples Bay Area," accompanied by a photo showing the freeways saturated with thousands of cars, bumper to bumper.
I think this was a miracle. I think that when our intention is pure and we call on a higher power, events on the physical plane are literally reorganized in accord with our need. I believe that at every moment each of us lives in the world we create according to our beliefs and expectations, and as we release fear and live for love, the universe rearranges itself in favor our desired vision.
A Course in Miracles tells us that all that is required for a miracle is "a little willingness." Earlier, Jesus told, "If you had enough faith, you could say to this mountain, `Be thou removed,' and it would be." If that works for mountains, it can certainly work for manifesting a turkey, getting beyond traffic jams and creating anything else your heart desires. Let us practice knowing that God and love and goodness are present, and we deserve to live in the kingdom of love even as we walk the earth.
Alan Cohen is the author of the bestselling The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore. To order Alan's new book I Had It All the Time or request a free catalog of Alan's books, tapes, and workshop schedule, write to Hay House, Post Office Box 5100, Carlsbad CA 92018, or call 1-800 -462-3013. For information about Alan's Mastery Training held in Hawaii and focusing deeply with twenty-four participants, write to 430 Kukuna Road, Haiku, Hawaii 96708 or phone 1-808-572-0001.