当你途经,奇迹绽放

Sometimes just when we need the power of miracles to change our beliefs， they materialize in the places we’d least expect. They can come to us as a drastic alteration in our physical reality or as a simple synchronicity in our lives. Sometimes they’re big and can’t be missed—the vision of Our Lady of the Rosary that appeared to 50，000 people on a hillside near Fatima， Portugal， in 1917， for example. Other times they’re so subtle that if we aren’t aware， we may miss them altogether. They can come from the lips of a stranger we suddenly and mysteriously encounter at just the right instant. If we listen carefully， we’ll always hear the right words， at the right time， to dazzle us into a realization of something that we may have failed to notice only momentsbefore.

On a cold January afternoon in 1989， I was hiking up the trailthatleadstothetopofEgypt’sMt.Horeb.I’d spentthedayat St. Catherine’s Monastery and wanted to get to the peak by sunset to see the valley below. As I was winding up the narrow path， I’d occasionally see other hikers who were coming down from a day on the mountain. While they would generally pass with simply a nod or a greeting in another language， there was one man that day whodidneither.

I saw him coming from the last switchback on the trail that led to the backside of the mountain. As he got closer， I could see that he was dressed differently from the other hikers I’d seen. Rather than the high-tech fabrics and styles that had been the norm， this man was wearing traditional Egyptian clothing. He wore a tattered， rust-colored galabia and obviously old and thick-soled sandals that were covered in dust. What made his appearance so odd， though， was that the man didn’t even appear to be Egyptian！ He was a small-framed Asian man， had very little hair，andwaswearinground，wire-rimmedglasses.

As we neared one another， I was the first to speak.“Hello，”I said， stopping on the trail for a moment to catch my breath. Not a sound came from the man as he walked closer. I thought that maybe he hadn’t heard me or the wind had carried my voice away from him in another direction. Suddenly he stopped directly in front of me on the high side of the trail， looked up from the ground， and spoke a single sentence to me in English，“Sometimes you don’t know what you have lost until you’ve lost it.”As I took in what I had just heard， he simply stepped around me and continuedhisdescentdownthetrail.

That moment in my life was a small miracle. The reason is less about what the man said and more about the timing and the context. The year was 1989， and the Cold War was drawing to a close.Whatthemanonthetrailcouldn’thaveknown isthatitwas during my Egyptian pilgrimage， and specifically during my hike to the top of Moses’s mountain， that I’d set the time aside to make decisions that would affect my career in the defense industry， my friends，myfamily，and，ultimately，mylife.

I had to ask myself what the chances were of an Asian man dressed in an Egyptian galabia coming down from the top of this historicmountain justwhen I was walking up， stopping before me， and offering his wisdom， seemingly from out of nowhere. My answer to my own question was easy： the odds were slim to none！ In an encounter that lasted less than two minutes on a mountain halfway around the world from my home， a total stranger had brought clarity， and the hint of a warning， regarding the huge changes that I would make within a matter of days. In my way of thinking，that’samiracle.

I suspect that we all experience small miracles in our lives every day. Sometimes we have the wisdom and the courage to recognize them for what they are. In the moments when we don’t， that’s okay as well. It seems that our miracles have a way of coming back to us again and again. And each time they do， they become a little less subtle， until we can’t possibly miss the messagethattheybringtoourlives！

The key is that they’re everywhere and occur every day for different reasons， in response to the different needs that we may have in the moment. Our job may be less about questioning the extraordinarythingsthathappen in our dailylives and more about acceptingthegiftstheybring.

有时候，就在我们需要奇迹的力量来改变信念之际，奇迹总在我们意想不到的地方出现。奇迹来到我们身边，显现为我们现实世界里的一个巨变，又或是我们生活中一件同时发生的简单事情。有时候这些奇迹宏大而令人难以忽视。比如说，1917年，在葡萄牙靠近法蒂玛的一个山坡上，玫瑰圣母的影像在五万人面前显现。还有一些时候奇迹很微妙，如果不在意，我们也许会完全错失。奇迹可以来自一个我们不期而遇、神秘出现的陌生人之口，如果我们仔细聆听，我们往往会听见至理箴言，在恰当的时候顿悟到片刻前我们可能未曾注意到的东西。

1989年1月一个寒冷的午后，我正攀登通向埃及何烈山山顶的小径。我已在圣凯瑟琳修道院待了大半天，打算在日落前到达顶峰，看看下面的山谷。沿着那条狭窄的山路蜿蜒上行，我偶尔会见到其他在山上待了一整天后正在下山的背包客。经过时他们往往会简单地点下头，或用另一种语言问候，但那天我遇到一个人他没有这么做。

我看到他从通往山后的那条小径的最后一个急转弯走来。当他走近的时候，我能看出他与其他我见到的背包客穿着不同。这个男人并非穿着常规款式的高端面料登山服，而是穿着传统的埃及服饰。他穿着一件破烂的赭色长袍，脚上踏着一双沾满了灰尘的厚底旧凉鞋。但是，看起来尤为古怪的是，那男人根本不像埃及人！他是一位个头矮小的亚洲男人，头发极为稀疏，戴着一副圆形的金丝边眼镜。

当我们走近彼此的时候，我首先向他打招呼。“你好。”我说，一边在小径上停下了脚步喘气。那个男人走得更近的时候却并未做声。我想也许他没听到，或者风把我的声音从他那儿吹到了别的方向。突然，他径直在我面前停了下来，停在小径较高处，抬起头，只是用英语对我说了一句话：“有时候直到你失去了，你才知道你丢了什么。”当我琢磨着自己刚刚听到的话时，他只是围着我踱了踱步，然后继续下山。

我人生中的那一刻是一个小小的奇迹。这并不是因为那个男人说了什么，更多的是因为那个时机和情境。那年是1989年，冷战正接近终结。那个山径上的男人不会知道的，是在我的埃及朝圣之行中，特别是在我徒步登上摩西山顶的途中，我将预留出时间来作决定。那些决定将会影响我在国防行业的职业生涯、我的朋友、我的家人，最后是我的人生。

我不得不问自己这是何种机缘，看起来不知打哪儿冒出来的一位身着埃及长袍的亚洲人，在我上山的同时也正从这座历史名山上走下来，停在我面前，并分享他的智慧。我对自己的问题给出的答案很简单：这几率小到没有！在异国一个半山腰上的一场持续了不到两分钟的偶遇中，一个完全陌生的人对我说了一句暗含警示的话，提醒我在数日之内将会作出巨大的改变。在我看来，那是一个奇迹。

我猜想我们在生命里的每一天都会遇到小奇迹。有时候我们有智慧和勇气去认出它们的本来面目。当我们认不出的时候，也没什么关系。我们的奇迹似乎总有反复回到我们身边的办法。并且每次当它们降临时，都变得少了一丝微妙，直到它们将我们不可能错失的消息带进我们的生活。

关键是，它们无处不在，并且每天因为不同的缘由发生着，回应着我们在当下可能怀有的不同需求。我们要做的，不是质疑发生在我们日常生活中的非凡事件，而是更多地接受它们带来的恩赐。