Ordinary Miracles

When was the last time you felt icy-cold, pure well water pouring over your bare feet on a sweltering summer afternoon? If it hasn’t been in the last few days . . . or at least in the last year . . . then you need to come to Kirkhaven. Our well is finally finished, the pump is installed, the pipes are all connected, and water is flowing! It is amazing to think that this precious gift of clean, sweet water has been there . . . 760 feet below the wildflower-strewn meadows of my home . . . waiting for us to reach down and draw it up from its limestone depths.

The water is clear . . . as a finely-polished crystal.
Cold . . . as an April mountain stream.
Fresh . . . as a morning autumn rain.
Abundant . . . as a triple-portion harvest just before Jubilee year.


And all we have to do is open a valve or simply lift a handle.


Don’t let anyone tell you, however, that getting water from a well like this is cheap or easy or quick. But don’t let them tell you it is foolish or irrelevant or impossible either.

When I look at our well, I see God's faithfulness wrought through generous, skillful, hardworking hands. I am grateful for the knowledge and the equipment of well drillers, excavators, and electricians. I admire the tenacity of those who worked in 90+ degrees with 90+ humidity to glue pipes together and install hydrants and valves. I remember the vision that initiated the project, the hope that gave it breath, the faith that sustained it, and the persistence that brought it to full fruition.

And now this precious gift from the Lord . . . this hard-won victory . . . this well water becomes a simple part of routine life at Kirkhaven. Irrigating our flowers and our green lawn. Watering the berries, fruits, melons, vegetables, herbs, and apple orchard. Cleaning off the patio and maintaining the swimming pool. Washing our cars. Filling our bass pond. Providing the chickens with clean, chlorine-free drinking water.


Isn’t it amazing
that the real miracles of God’s goodness and grace are both
so very costly . . . and so very free . . .
so very astounding . . . and so very common . . .
so lavishly enjoyed . . . and so industriously employed . . .
altogether unearned . . . yet requiring such faith and diligence?


And hidden.
Usually hidden.
Hidden beneath red clay and gray limestone.
Or simply hidden in the quiet routine of life on a small ridge-top farm.


It is easy, sometimes, to feel besieged by the hardships and sorrows of life. Things can be so difficult and people can be so very hurtful. But it is important to recognize the miracles. And to laugh and rejoice every time they grace our commonplace lives.


Perhaps it is the ordinary things that are the real miracles anyway.


What could be more ordinary . . .
and more miraculously life-giving . . .
than water?

The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

Psalm 23:1-3

. . . the first flow of water down the pipes into the bass pond . . .

my new yard art beside the garden . . .

gushing with icy-cold well water!