In times of confusion and fear, sometimes it helps to step back and recognize the miracles that surround us every day. Some of those miracles have become so taken for granted, that we forget just how miraculous they are. If you are reading this text, you are unconsciously using one of those miracles.

We are talking about the miraculous phenomenon of magnetic fields.

Long before GPS satellites, explorers used a compass to navigate. A compass is an ancient instrument that responds to the earth’s magnetic field. And that invisible force field is critical to protecting the earth from the sun’s brutal solar wind. That is just one of the invisible, miraculous effects of magnetism that has only recently been revealed by modern science. Yet, that protectin has shielded us as long as mankind has existed on this earth.

We are all familiar with a common bar magnet with a positive pole on one end and a negative pole on the other. We are familiar with the concept that like poles repel and opposite poles attract. Perhaps, too, we have observed the school science demonstration with iron filings fanned out in a pattern that reveals the magnetic field around the end of that magnet.

What is less obvious to most of us is the impact magnetism has on our daily lives. The positive and negative charges that our simple magnet displays are more than mere curiosities, but a hint of the immense impact this effect has on our lives. The electricity that powers so much of our lives is fueled by that positive-negative dance that is familiar yet unnoticed and not fully appreciated.

The list of modern technology that is built upon the electronic phenomenon that began with simple magnetic properties is vast beyond belief, and keeps growing.

What is missing in our contemplation is “why.” We continue to discover how magnetism and polar opposite charges can be harnessed to our advantage, but we seldom consider why this phenomenon even exists. The deeper we delve into all the forces of nature that are in a balance that allows our existence, the more complex our understanding of our existence becomes. And yet, we seldom voice that ultimate question – “why.”

Perhaps the simplest answer is also the answer to many more of our questions. Perhaps the simplest answer is the anchor we need during the storms of crisis and despair.

It is, simply, the will of God.