Magazine for February 2010
A MIRACLE
Margaret waited patiently for the pharmacist, but he was busy talking to another man – the only other person in the shop – about a football match. Margaret shuffled around, and coughed loudly and eventually the pharmacist looked in her direction. ‘And what do you want?’ he asked in an annoyed tone of voice.
‘Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,’ Margaret replied ‘He’s really really sick.. and I want to buy a miracle’. ‘I beg your pardon?’ said the pharmacist. ‘He has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. I have the money to pay for it. How much does a miracle cost?’
The pharmacist softened a little. ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,’ he said. However, The other man bent down and asked the little girl ‘How much do you have?’ ‘Two pounds and thirty six pence’ she replied. ‘Well, what a coincidence,’ smiled the man. ”That’s the exact price of a miracle for a little brother’. He took her money and said ‘Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents’.
That man was a neuro-surgeon. The operation was completed free of charge and very soon Margaret’s brother was home again and doing well.
Mum and Dad were talking about it. ‘That surgery was a real miracle,’ said Mum. ‘I wonder how much it would have cost?’ Margaret smiled. She knew exactly how much it had cost. Two pounds and thirty six pence.
Two pounds and thirty six pence, plus the faith of a small child.
Miracles happen every day. A miracle is not the suspension of natural law. It’s the operation of a higher law.
E. P. Archer