Miracles

“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” 

Hebrews 11:1

I so admire people who are able to do difficult things and make hard decisions. The parents of Hikari Ōe were faced with the choice of following the doctors’ recommendation to let their baby die or pushing through with a risky procedure to correct his condition. He had a medical deformity, a herniated brain which meant he had two brains and looked as if he had two heads. They fought to keep Hikari, whose name means light, alive, even if it meant he would be autistic, visually impaired, epileptic, developmentally delayed, and terribly disfigured. 

Well, fast forward to 2023, and Hikari will be 60 years old in June. When he was young, among other creative interventions, his parents engaged a music teacher and amazingly Hikari began to respond to the stimuli. He learned music notation and eventually composed chamber music. His first CD sold more than one million copies in the first few years of release and he now has a worldwide following! 

Hikari’s story will not be complete without knowing that his parents bloomed like plants that were constantly pruned. Their all consuming love for their son, their imaginative care did not fail to bring gifts into their lives. Hikari’s father, Kenzaburo, was driven to write many essays and novels about their experiences of bringing up their son. Kenzaburo Ōe was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. 

If Kenzaburo and his wife Yukari did not embrace this gift of a child God gave them, if they resigned themselves to hopelessness, what would have happened? Scientists believe that Hikari would have remained mute and unproductive. But because they did not give up, they kept the faith, they kept talking and talking to Hikari even if at first nothing was happening, Hikari began to respond. And the world is the richer for it. Is there anything in our life that we think is hopeless? Nothing is impossible with God. 

While writing this now, I can hear this beautiful song in my head, “There can be miracles, When you believe, Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill, Who knows what miracles you can achieve? When you believe, somehow you will, You will when you believe!”

To hear a sample of Hikari’s composition- https://youtu.be/sed73hdy_n4