The miracle was right outside my front door

This morning, the moment I stepped out of my front door and closed it, something came flying toward me.

“Whoa!”

I was startled, and as I followed it with my eyes, I realized it was a swallowtail butterfly.

It seems it had been resting on the wall by the entrance, and the sound and vibration of me closing the door must have startled it into flight.

After fluttering around for a while, it landed on the wall again to take a break.

I quietly approached to take a photo, and when I asked Chappy, it told me it was a type of swallowtail butterfly called a 'common yellow swallowtail'.

This is the first time I've seen a swallowtail butterfly at my front door.

I watched it intently, wondering if it would fly off somewhere soon.

In the end, it stayed on the wall for about five minutes until I left, showing no signs of flying away, so I said, 'I'm off,' to the butterfly and headed to work.

Five minutes in the morning.

Usually, this is a time when I would leave the house without a second thought and head straight to work.

But this morning, thanks to the butterfly that appeared before me, I stopped for just a little while.

It's beautiful.

I wonder why it came here.

I wonder how long it had been there.

I spent a while watching the butterfly while thinking about such things.

When we hear the word 'miracle,' we tend to imagine wishes coming true or major events happening that couldn't possibly be coincidences.

But in reality, miracles might be much closer to us than we think.

Like finding a beautiful flower on your usual path.

Looking up at the sky and seeing beautiful clouds spreading out.

Suddenly receiving a message from someone I had been wanting to see.

And encountering a butterfly on the doorstep on an ordinary morning.

The events themselves might be very small things.

But if your heart was moved in that moment, then it is an important event for you.

We spend our days seeing so many things.

"Nothing special happened today."

Even in a day you think that about, there might actually be many small gifts that have arrived.

I think what is needed is not to go searching for big miracles, but to have the mental space to notice the events right in front of us.

Try stopping for just a moment in scenery you would usually pass right by.

"Beautiful."

"I'm happy."

"I'm curious about that."

Don't dismiss those movements of your own heart.

Just by doing that, I feel like an ordinary day starts to look a little different.

The miracle for me this morning was not in some distant, special place, but right outside my front door.

Perhaps today, too, small miracles are waiting right nearby for you to notice them.