I must be feeling ambitious....2 posts in one day! Maybe that can help make up for the weeks I didn't post at all. I'm sure I left all 2 of you breathless with anticipation!
I was just thinking about luck today on my way into work. Here's the definition according to Dictionary.com. Actually this is just the first 4 of 12 definitions:
1. the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities: With my luck I'll probably get pneumonia.
2. good fortune; advantage or success, considered as the result of chance: He had no luck finding work.
3. a combination of circumstances, events, etc., operating by chance to bring good or ill to a person: She's had nothing but bad luck all year.
4. some object on which good fortune is supposed to depend: This rabbit's foot is my luck.
A few years ago I decided to make an attempt to take the word "luck" and all of its relatives out of my vocabulary. I don't really believe in luck and coincidence, but rather in God's intervention in our lives. This comes in the form of blessings, guidance down certain paths in life, and protection, among other things. If everything were up to luck, why would we bother to make our requests known to God? It seems like a cruel picture: God tells us to ask for what we want and in the meantime, He's up in heaven spinning a big wheel of fate. I just don't buy that.
Luck is one of those words we use so flippantly and often that I catch myself using it all the time (at least in my thoughts; I'm getting better at not saying it out loud). In most cases I can substitute the word "blessed". So instead of saying that I'm really lucky to have a good job, good health and a nice home, I count those as blessings that God has provided for me. I'm not lucky to have artistic talent. It's a gift God specifically made for me. I'm not lucky that I've never been in a life threatening accident, I've been protected.
Yet I still catch myself wanting to say "good luck" when I part ways with a friend I know has a job interview or a health scare. Seems like the best thing to say would be "God be with you" but I haven't trained myself to let that roll off the tongue as easily as, "good luck".
This is perhaps getting a little more philosophical than I dare to get at times, but I had 40 minutes of thinking time in the car this morning. Can my theory of "no such thing as luck" really be true? If it's not luck that I've never been in a life threatening accident, does that imply that God wasn't protecting those people who have been? Could it be that there are some things that are just a matter of chance? Is every tornado, terminal illness, and birth defect planned and meted out by God? Or did He set the laws of nature into motion and intervenes from time to time?
So what brought about all this thinking about luck? I was just thinking this morning about how lucky I am that I've never got a speeding ticket. I drive about 9 miles over the speed limit, 70 miles a day for the past 4 years. What are the odds I'd never get stopped for speeding? Well I caught myself using the word "lucky" in my thoughts and did my automatic switch with the word "blessed". Hmmm......something is wrong with that picture. "I consciously break the law every day, but God has really blessed me with never getting stopped". What?! In this case, I would have to say that I'm just plain lucky.
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