The Miracle of Tender Mercies, by Rodney Karr

In our modern American age with its extravaganzas and spiritual materialism, often the Tao, the subtle healing of tender mercies, is lost to us. I have been graced by God/Goddess for 25 years with being privy to the lives of countless clients as a Jungian psychologist, and have witnessed and been told of numerous subtle miracles. Often I can assist them in recognizing these daily miracles of presence, which Jung and other call synchronicities. One of my own miracles occurred after my Mother’s death.

While my Dad and I were driving back home after some time away following the funeral, I was thinking of my Mother, how loving, nurturing and protective she had been, and how much I was going to miss her. I focused on her deep spiritual faith which she had shared and taught. Mom had told me that her 90 year old Grandfather had pledged to come back after his death to demonstrate the reality of life after death. He kept his promise, and his appearance to Mom and her two sisters three months after his death was central to our family spirituality ever after.

My sadness lightened.Mom was speaking in my heart: she would continue to be present, involved and active in my life, in the realm of spirit. She was asking what would bring me comfort now, and I warmly recalled a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream which I had seen on PBS years previous. When we got home, I turned on the TV and the very same production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was playing. Mom had come through once again for me, and has continued to do so with tender mercies ever since!

Sadly, many of my clients, despite my encouragement, are unwilling to recognize these miracles. A longtime client, getting older, was concerned about death. He wanted desperately to have spiritual faith, but was very intellectual. One session, he claimed that he had never had a spiritual experience, but wanted to. I asked him if anyone in his family had ever had a mystical experience. He began telling me that his departed father had told him that in his 20s, he had had a vision of an angel who played a trumpet.

Just as he was telling me this, someone began playing a trumpet outside. I immediately noticed the music, but my client continued talking. I tried to make him aware that a mystical event was now occurring, but he insisted that it was merely a coincidence. I shared with him that no one had played a trumpet outside my office before (nor since).

He died five years later, still desperately seeking a spiritual experience, still insisting that the trumpet playing outside my office was merely a coincidence. Spirit is constantly speaking to us, we are desperate to hear, but usually are unwilling to recognize it when it occurs.