Spring and Easter. Most of us look forward to this time of the year. Together spring and Easter signify a fun and colorful holiday season marked with family gatherings.

As children, this time of year meant wanting chocolate bunnies in our Easter baskets. And many of us always hoped it would be solid milk chocolate. Not one of those ‘cheapy’ hollow rabbits. We had faith the Easter bunny would not let us down. And sometimes he complied. Having faith is always part of Easter. That along with the trust spring will push perennials back up again after a harsh winter. And although I am not overly religious – this spring I witnessed something which must be explained as a small miracle. (One definition of ‘miracle’ is an event or action that is amazing, extraordinary, or unexpected.)

One afternoon after opening my automatic garage door something was hanging on the door bottom. I walked closer and it was a tiny cross. I ran into the house to get a camera to snap a shot. (I know, I should have just used my cell; but remember I am in my fourth decade of age, a ‘camera’ still is the first electronic device I think of when taking pictures!)

The hanging cross was comprised of two tiny twigs and a spider web. Upon further inspection I realized the two twigs were not grown together; they were two separate pieces. I waited five minutes and then decided it was time to close the garage door and go into the house. As the door closed the tiny cross also proceeded down slowly and the two separate twigs scissor closed.

However, instead of walking into the house, my curiosity got the best of me. I had to open the garage door again. The twigs rose together following the bottom of the door, moved and formed an attached, but slightly skewed cross this time. Lasting only for a couple seconds and then blowing away.

Some of you will say it was not a miracle. Not even a small one. But remember a miracle is an event or action that is amazing, extraordinary, or unexpected.

Furthermore, my engineering background drives me to try and prove this to you. I will use probabilities. (Probability is the measure of how likely an event is to occur.)

What probability was it for:
two small twigs to be joined by a spider web,
the entire group to securely attach to the garage door bottom,
and rise in the wind with a scissor motion into the perfect little rugged cross?
Then do it again one more time?
Are not the odds overwhelming?

I researched on-line and while there are many calculations for probability, I chose the ‘probability theory formula’. According to TutorVista.com,
“Probability theory is a branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of random phenomena. The outcome of a random event cannot be determined before it occurs. If the collection of all possible outcomes is S and the collection of desired outcomes is A, the probability of the desired outcomes is:
Probability = number of (A) divided by number of (S).”

So, for our little twig cross…..A= the number of desired outcomes=2. (It was observed to happen twice.) And S=all possible outcomes=???? I was stuck. Assumptions are needed and are to be based on: 1. we have very few bugs at all around our house due to the twice/year exterminator spraying AND 2. my husband cleans our garage and driveway often and to the point you could almost eat off the cement…

Thus, I am going to assume, conservatively, there are a billion other outcomes which have and could have occurred rather than the little cross forming and rising on the door intact.
So… P = 2 divided by 1,000,000,000 = 0.000000002 or 0.00000002%

The probability is negligible, too small or unimportant to be worth considering. The odds of this exact situation ever happening again then are….I will never see it again nor will my children nor will their children nor theirs or theirs or most likely anyone’s for eons!? I call that a small miracle.

Hence during this Easter season and springtime, take a moment to appreciate the odds and variables we are all against and how we manage to endure. How truly lucky we all are for the precious small miracles holding together our fragile and valuable lives.