We’ve all seen it happen – an individual or organization in desperate shape, entirely out of options, when a seeming miracle occurs. A check in the mail. An invitation to speak. A long-forgotten friend calling to say, “I’ve been thinking about you.”
We hear all sorts of explanations. The universe conspiring on our behalf. God’s will. The law of attraction.
While these explanations may feel somewhat inspirational, most people would feel uncomfortable relying solely on such divine intervention. I am reminded of the words on the marquee of an insurance company: “Pray for a miracle, but don’t rely on one.”
Something’s Happening Here…
But that doesn’t negate the fact that, regardless of one’s faith or lack thereof, most of us doing community benefit work have seen repeated evidence of these “miracles” – someone appearing with what we need, just when we need it the most.
For some, it happens every rare once in a while. For others, it happens so reliably that they talk about “a star hanging over our work.” Outsiders familiar with an effort may comment in fascination, as my friend the Zen priest Mark Eckhardt once noted about Dimitri and my work, “You seem to be the recipients of ongoing acts of kindness.”
The facts are clear: virtually every person doing community benefit work has experienced this phenonmenon. It happens to those who believe in a higher power. It happens to atheists. It is noticeable and not at all uncommon.
Aside from marveling when it happens, nobody really talks about this as an ongoing phenomenon. And certainly no one bases the ability to do their work on such a thing…
What It Is Ain’t Exactly Clear…
It is that combination of ubiquitousness and the almost universal embarrassment about discussing that ubiquitousness that is calling to the team beginning to research this phenomenon at Creating the Future.
It is clear to us that when we consider these as individual miracles, it makes no sense to investigate their cause.
But if we instead consider this as a significant and oft-observed phenomenon that can be deconstructed, we can figure out what is really happening when these purported “miracles” occur.
And if that exploration leads to consistent observations, it would then be possible to identify the favorable conditions that would lead to this phenomenon occurring.
In other words, if this phenomenon is scientifically predictable, it is replicable.
In these beginning stages of exploration, we have a lot more questions than answers, the first of which is… what do you think?
- Have you recently experienced one of these “miracle” moments? Can you share the circumstances, especially the circumstances of the “miracle” part?
- In your own experience with such “miracles,” have you noticed any patterns? Is there something that seems to consistently precede these “miracles”?
- What do you think is happening to create these “miracles”? What do you see in people and groups who seem to consistently attract “miracles”?
And importantly, what other questions could we be asking, that might help us get to the bottom of this ongoing (and almost entirely ignored / intentionally not publicly spoken about) phenomenon?
I’ve never thought of these moments are miracles, though perhaps as blessings from Mother Earth.
It seems to me more like the thinking behind “the harder I work, the more luck I have.” When I am out working to better my communities, I meet wonderful people. Sometimes there is a great and lasting connection, and sometimes just a warm glow that night. It just seems like luck – I happen to have coffee or volunteer beside or be in small group with great people.
When I sit on the couch like a lump, absorbing entertainment, that kind of luck just doesn’t happen.
Replication of the exact result can’t be predicted, but we can predict the conditions that make a good result far more probable, and conditions that prevent it.
Yes yes, Jane – the pre-conditions! Exactly! And if we can deconstruct those, we may not have to predict them – we may be able to create them! (Can you tell this topic has me fascinated?)
Hi Hildy and Jane —
I have been using this framework in the community engagement/fundraising arena. The idea is to inspire the Board to inspire themselves to create the conditions that attract the community, inspire passion, and signal a readiness for the mission delivery to be a team sport with the community.
The basic conditions I outline as a framework for a “development plan” are:
1) Clear Plan
2) Compelling Story
3) Critical Mass of People on Fire for your Mission
4) Demonstrable Change in the Community/in the lives of people you benefit
5) A passionate Board focused on bringing the community in.
This gets us out of the mire of fundraising tactics (annual fund, social media, major giving), which I see Boards getting stuck in. In each of these conditions, we define roles, the role of the Board in creating this, the role of the Senior Staff (the ED, for example), the role of Development staff, the role of a Development COmmittee, if the group has one, the role of program staff,
Then for each of these roles, there are less than 10 things to do. That’s their work plan.g. OK, it’s true, one “to do” might be something big like “communications calendar,” but my point is that there is not an infinite or even a huge number of things to do, but rather a limited set of important things to focus on doing really really well and with integrity.
If groups are doing these things at even 60-80%, I know that “a miracle” is in the offing. It’s not rocket science, but we seem to have made it infinitely complicated.
The question is, can the group get to a place where they see themselves changing and can visualize behaving in these ways that are consistent with having the community at your side. This is where I am paying attention to the anatomy of that shift in the real world of running organizations and making incredible results commonplace…which is what our fabulous sector does. If anyone out there has observations to share, please do!
Andrea
What a great framework, Andrea! I especially love that none of the conditions are: 1) know rich people, 2) find people who know rich people, or 3) win the lottery/Pepsi Refresh project/Chase Community Giving FB contest.
I never thought of these serendipitous moments as miracles, especially in fundraising, because we work hard for them. Perhaps it’s my definition of a miracle that’s out of whack.
I think I prefer to think of it as a state of readiness and receptivity — when we do something (whether to think differently, take a positive attitude or try something new) we are signaling to others what we are willing to accept as possible for ourselves and for our communities. Dwelling on negatives shuts down this willingness; positive attitudes open us up to possibility. So maybe they are miracles after all since they require a faith in the goodness of others and that what we need will be provided when we are ready to receive it.
This may be too simplistic, but the thread I see is passion…Andrea lists some other conditions that might increase the probability of that passion connecting with others/community or igniting others’ passion; and Jane points to being in places where that passion is not “under a bushel.”
Passion can be contagious, and there are conditions that help people get to that point, and conditions that allow passion to be shared.
I’ve found that when we expect the best of people, we seem to ‘miraculously’ experience more goodness from them. Maybe that works for groups and communities as well? Its a lesson I learned from my Mum who is so good at excavating the best out of (even the most unlikely) people.
Wow – quite a list so far!
• Readiness (thanks, Kim) through planning (Wow – Andrea – thank you for all that rich how-to!) and receptivity (I love that word, Kim!).
• Signaling possibilities to others (love that, too, Kim!) which is SO much about passion! (thanks for that, Bill!)
• And oh yes, Garth, expecting the best of others – which as I think about it, has to do with receptivity – being open to (and expecting) their gifts.
With a list starting out this well, I can’t wait to hear from others.
And please, share stories – have you experienced a seeming “miracle” lately? Someone calling out of the blue, just when you needed it? What is happening when those things just happen to happen?
A story from today: We’ve been needing new board members and trying to recruit since last year. Met for the second time with a prospective today. The first time I tried to focus on getting to know her, and this time she asked more about what we are trying to do. When I was done with my description, she said, “This is exactly [the volunteer opportunity] I’ve been looking for!” I almost cried (you know me, I’m prone to do that). I invited her to our next meeting to check us out. She told me about all the things she noticed about what we did in our fundraising campaign last year — that I personally signed every letter, that we reported back how the money was spent, how she attended the music program concert last week that her donation made possible. She got it. It was all the little things that added up — like Andrea’s list of conditions — that signaled to her that we were ready for her, that the match is right. Even if she doesn’t join the board, I am so happy to have met her, and I’m sure our org will be better for it somehow, someway. Anyway, it reminded me of this discussion here, so I thought I’d share it.
I honestly think that miracles are the antithesis of scientific predictability. They involve genuinely good intention, radical trust ( as opposed to knowing or expectation), hope, love and gratitude – to me, those are the key ingredients. All these things, even if totally wrapped in exhaustion, strategic blunders, etc., will be enough – in my experience.
I think it truly boils down to “love will make a way.” I think letting go of scientific predictability and your own ability to control the outcome is a key characteristic of miracles. Leaving it up to the universe by remaining unattached and humble, while simultaneously loving a possibility into existence – it’s a delicate balance.
Here’s the story of our most recent ThanksGiving miracle:
http://epicchangeblog.org/2011/12/01/where-gratitude-leads/
And a school built from song (if that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is): http://epicchangeblog.org/2011/12/09/yes-begets-yes/
i love the discussion. but i’m not sure i want to live in a world of scientifically-predictable miracles. i prefer to relish their wonder. it reminds me of the song: “let the mystery be”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80 – maybe that’s the most important part of miracles.
Hello everyone…
I would like to share an article that came out earlier this year which may be of interest, perhaps not directly to this posting, but the implications to our work are HUGE.
http://wakeup-world.com/2011/07/12/scientist-prove-dna-can-be-reprogrammed-by-words-frequencies/
Given how this information shifts the previous prevalent perspectives about what makes us “human” or what makes humanity “humane”, and the interplay between what I have come to see as human animal with human energy or spirit, I believe the phenomena you speak of Hildy, is an “and/also” not an “either/or”.
In order to truly receive, there needs to be a willingness to entertain the idea that the effort of “taking action”, also includes being open to signals or avenues coming from outside (or alongside) the realm of that action… to even entertain that from a “somewhere-else” – from what you already know or expect, is key.
The realm of possibility is one part of the equation to be sure, and that’s where I believe Creating the Future has come in. To be in the possibilities, to continue to share something better, more, different or new than existed before, by championing the good work that is happening in the now, and demonstrating what its like to be in the exploration and the discovery.
May I suggest also, that another part is growing to learn and understand that we are all, ALWAYS ready for as much as we give ourselves permission to be so?
I would like all of us to entertain that the idea of “readiness” can do us a disservice. Because it creates a perspective of a state to be attained before something will come. While interpretations of cause and effect would have us believe it is that linear, coming from that perspective makes the focus about the goal, the attainment of the goal, or whether or not we’ve “arrived” yet, which is results driven, (note I say “results” not “ends”) and when the result doesn’t come in the way labeled or expected, that causes a disconnect in our being, and our respective realities.
Readiness is actually cyclical and about where an individual is in the fluency of their ability to be in the rhythm or the “give and receive” if you will, of life – of receiving something better, more, different or new from what they knew before. Whether you come from religion, science or philosophy, that looks like connecting to the natural energies or the harmonics of living on, in, and with the planet.
More and more it is being evidenced that humanity is coming into a space of seeing that which is already manifesting, the good works that are weaving together in a tapestry of “miracles” – and that these experiences are not meant to be the exception to the rule… they are meant to be the norm.
May all of us be in those miracles more frequently, and be an example of the joy and inspiration that can be our every day lives, together.
In Gratitude to you Hildy, for writing this,
In Spirit,
Trae Ashlie-Garen
Love this, Trae – “More and more it is being evidenced that humanity is coming into a space of seeing that which is already manifesting, the good works that are weaving together in a tapestry of “miracles” – and that these experiences are not meant to be the exception to the rule… they are meant to be the norm.”
And beyond their being “meant to be the norm,” it is likely they simply are the norm already, and we are not seeing that. Opening our eyes to what is already right here now – oh yum!
🙂
Interesting you talk about my being in places where that passion is not “under a bushel”, Bill, because I was brought up in a religion that explicitly taught me to hide my light under a bushel. Even though I left the church at 12 years old, that teaching held me back for many years and harmed my career. Eventually I threw off the bushel.
Garth, I have generally found that the more that is expected of people the more they will do. My first long-term volunteering was in a place where people even took expensive training in order to get more responsible volunteer roles (and I’m not talking board or committee, though there was a always a surplus of candidates for those too). I then found out how rare it was to expect so much of volunteers. That organization did a lot of things wrong but it did get that part right.