On Monday morning, my sister walked into our bedroom as I was rolling out of bed.

“Do you want to see a miracle?” she asked.

“Sure!” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster at that hour of the morning.  On the way out, I grabbed my glasses, because most see-able miracles look better when you can actually see them.

My sister led me into our parent’s bedroom to the window overlooking our driveway.  There, right across the driveway, was a maple tree.  Last night, it had been standing along our neighbor’s fence.  The miracle wasn’t that it had fallen; the miracle was that –

The tree didn’t hit our van that was standing in the driveway that night.

The tree didn’t hit our garage (it must have shrunk or something!)

The tree didn’t hit the little horse chestnut tree directly across the driveway.

The tree didn’t hit any of the pine trees along our property line – and considering how closely they are planted to each other, that was no small feat.

In short, other than falling across the driveway, the tree did no damage at all.

It staggered me to see, right before my eyes, God’s care for us.  That He directed its path so it didn’t even hit other trees.  That He let us rejoice in His goodness to us.

Then I remembered the night before; I had suddenly and unexplainably had an urge to pray for the trees in our yard.  The wind had been blowing fiercely, and I had prayed specifically for the huge poplar trees near our woodpile (mostly I’d prayed that they wouldn’t hit the house).  “Is that why God told me to pray for the trees at 10:30 last night!” I said out loud.

I shoved on my flip flops and hurried out with the others to see the tree closer up.  As it turns out, the tree had fallen at about 10:45pm.  My brother had heard it and he and another brother had trimmed the top branches so they could drive the van around the fallen trunk to the “safe” side of the driveway, where there are fewer trees.

“I had to go out and help direct the van,” the younger one told me later in explanation of why he wasn’t in bed at the proper time.  “My brother had to drive the van on the grass around the tree and still not hit the garden!”

My point in telling you about the tree across the driveway is to show that God is still working and active today in our world.  He’s still orchestrating our lives and our futures.  He sees our needs and desires and He is well aware of them – so aware that He would direct a tree so it didn’t do any damage.  He even knows our so-small-it-doesn’t-really-matter desires – we could easily have replaced the pine trees along the property line, or said ‘oh well’ about the horse chestnut tree, but instead He rescued them.

I’m grateful for the lack of damage.  I’m also grateful for Good Father Who sees the smallest details of my life and still cares about them.