Rev. Michelle's Message August 7, 2025

Happy lovely sunshine-y summer day! I hope you are all getting a chance to enjoy the beautiful summer weather we are finally having here on the Monterey Peninsula.

Whether it’s taking a walk by the beach or simply sitting out in your own backyard, I hope you can take some time each day to just enjoy the incredible beauty of where we live.

Remember that awe leads directly to happiness, and so I invite you to be in the wonder and awe of it all. We can consciously choose to experience awe by simply slowing down and noticing the amazing things that are all around us. We can choose to see it all as a miracle.

This is exactly what Walt Whitman is talking about in this excerpt from his poem, Miracles:

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Every cubic inch of space is a miracle, Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same, Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle, The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—the ships with men in them, What stranger miracles are there?

Paco, Alexander, Winnie, and I love to walk down on Fisherman’s Wharf like tourists. We walk way out to where the whale watching boats are and just stand there and breathe in the sea air and watch the otters frolic. Someone has hung a boat’s steering wheel on the railing and Alexander likes to stand there at the helm and pretend he is a ship’s captain. I like to watch the tourists get excited about the sea lions and the otters because it reminds me that there are truly miracles every where and we can choose to see them.

May your eyes behold the miracles in your life today! 

Miraculous Blessings,

Rev. Michelle