Seattle in Fall

We have been in the Emerald City for the past 48 hours getting ready to celebrate a wedding. While Seattle is known for its rain, we have been blessed with sunshine and beautiful sunsets across the Sound. How did we get so lucky?

People like to speak about luck all the time. It was a lucky catch. He was lucky to get the job. People even discount luck by saying, "Luck had nothing to do with it." How did such a word get into our vocabulary?

I believe this word is a part of our language because we desire something that will enable us to make sense of things when they seem to make no sense. Since there are times when skill is not enough, we attribute it to good fortune. The realist among us would decry the use of fortune to explain events, but their rationality lacks credibility as well. There is something else at work in this world and we don't know how to describe it except to call it "luck."

Now we who are religious might say that this is the work of the Spirit. We who are sensitive to spiritual matters might say that there is an experience that goes beyond what are mind can wrap itself around and comprehend. If we open ourselves to this other reality it takes us beyond luck to an awareness that we are not in control of all things, and that this world is not the stable ecosystem that we attempt to make it out to be.

How do we deal with some of the bad and good luck as people of faith? Do we simply agree with some authors of the Bible who would say that such things are the result of previous actions and the reward for our faithfulness or lack thereof? Or do we agree with other writers in Scripture who would remind us that the rain falls upon the just and unjust alike? I would go with the latter, and rather than trying to make sense out of everything in this world, simply choose to work for good and not bad. I would accept that there are things that happen that I cannot explain and simply trust that God is working for good despite my lack of understanding. I will choose to trust. How about you?

Peace.