Do miracles really happen?  It depends on what we mean by miracle.  For most of us, a miracle is an event that seems so totally amazing, so totally wonderful that we feel as if we cannot explain how or why it happened.  We're in awe.
     But we might not be willing to attribute it to God.
     For those of us who are religious or harbor religious sensibilities, however, a miracle, that is, an event beyond belief, is a work of God.  When a loved one suddenly recovers from a life threatening illness, so suddenly that it leaves even the doctors puzzling, or when, as a pair of missionaries once related to me, some people who broke into their home somehow failed to see them even though they were standing behind a glass door, we conclude that this is something that only God could do.
     Not that I would dispute that God could behind these things, but I observe that more often than not we believe these to be miracles because we believe in God.  If we didn't believe in God, we probably would not call them miracles.  Hence, at some point, our perceptions become subjective.
     Or do they?  One of the great gurus of Sikkhism once noted that, "The greatest miracle of all is the name of God.  The 'True Name' is the miracle of miracles.  I know of no other miracles."
     The guru had a point.  If we believe that God is the greatest miracle, that the name and fact of God is the most wondrous thing of all, then we have every reason to conclude that the extraordinary events of this life have an extraordinary origin.  We have every reason to suppose that they are of God.
     And why not?  Without the fact of God, we would have no perception of extraordinary, no measure of content or wonder, for nothing would mean anything, anyway.  Miracles affirm the presence of hope, confirm the fact of meaning, establish the idea of a living and active and loving God.  And that, as the guru wisely noted, is indeed the greatest miracle of all.