Travel Often

“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” — Rosalia de Castro

Love Deeply, but Laugh Along the Way

"Happiness is only real when shared." - Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

View Marriage as an Adventure

"Love is a flower which turns into fruit at marriage." ~Finnish Proverb

Fuel your body with GOOD (It's the only one you get)

He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything. - Arabian Proverb

Open your Soul to Motherhood

A Grand Adventure is About to Begin - Winnie the Pooh

A New Kind of Love is Born

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Coincidence or something bigger?

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you just feel like everything is going to work out? That life is good and precious and everything about it is worth taking a deeper look at. Well, I'm having one of those weeks, and I really want to bottle it up. Because for several weeks/months leading up to now, life hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies. But I'm not going to complain because it's still good. Things just haven't seemed as clear as they do right now.

To explain what I'm thinking is hard other than compare it to a coincidence. However when I used to work at a Lutheran church, I once wrote an article about coincidences in the newsletter and a few members came into my office and shared their thoughts on the word.

"There is no such thing, you know. It's God's work, not coincidence."

I have to agree, but I also believe there are other aspects that orchestrate our outcome too: perseverance, our choices, determination, hard work, luck, timing...maybe throw in a little astrology too. I mean, the other planets exist for some reason... Right?


Town Home for Sale in Burnsville...isn' she cute?
Example
So here I was, walking on a glorious evening last week Thursday, remembering why I live in Minnesota with the lakes in our neighborhood resembling glass and reflecting the fluffy clouds in the sky. The clean, fresh air filled my lungs with freedom and peace. I soon ran into some friends and chatted them up for almost an hour, then got lost (I promise the neighborhood roads get confusing even after ten years living in the same house) and didn't get back home until well after 8 p.m. Let's just say dinner was a late one that night.

However, I spent a ton of time reflecting as I walked (without my IPOD) in silence. The experience was almost like I accepted where I was right at the moment and focused on all the good. Even the bad seemed to turn into an opportunity or growth in my mind. So strange.

But it gets crazier. So for the past few weeks my husband and I have been cleaning out his town home, with the help of his family (so grateful for them) to get it ready for showings. All the while he's grumbling under his breath, "Can't wait to get $25 for my house...Who's going to buy now?" yadda yadda yadda.

Last Friday the house was going on the market. But for some reason my mind was so full of stuff and my calendar jam packed with weddings, baby showers, writing, jobs, you name it, that I honestly didn't have room to add another worry to the list. It was like my brain and body refused to let any negativity or worry in about the house.

As I marched into our quaint neighborhood from my long walk and journey, a large black man waved me over. Great, I thought. What's this guy want? The Mormons already hit us up earlier in the week as well as some students selling magazines.

"Do you know of any houses for sale?" he asked with a heavy African accent. Okay, maybe Nigerian? I'm never good at deciphering this stuff. 

"Huh?" I shifted my eyes toward our house, hoping Karl caught us from the window.

"In this area. Do you know any of the houses for sale. Any foreclosures?" he asked with persistence.

A smile broke on my face. "Noooo, but my husband's house is for sale a few towns over."

"God sent me to you," he said as his eyes grew into saucers.

His words echoed in my head. Wouldn't that be just something crazy, I thought. A person God sent just for me. We exchanged information and before I knew it, the man was meeting our realtor and looking at Karl's house the next day. The day the house went up on the market. And guess what? Today we have a buyer.

Uhhh, say what?

Coincidence? Good luck? Timing? I'm not sure. I could tell you that the buyer wasn't the big black man but someone else (kinda takes away from the story a bit). And granted everything could fall through. (Obviously I don't believe in jinxing things. ha!) But still... Do things like this happen? Or was someone bigger trying to tell me something, let alone prove something. Maybe I don't have anything to worry about. Maybe everything will work itself out the moment I step back, appreciate and let go. Maybe worry is simply a waste of time.

What do you think? Coincidence or something bigger?

"Friendship is not created by what we give, but more by what we share. It makes a whole world of things easier to bear." - anonymous