Blessing or Luck?

Solomon once mused that, “time and chance hap­pen to all.” It was as close as he could come to call­ing life a mat­ter of the luck-of-the-draw with­out sound­ing like a non-Jew. In the tra­di­tion of Abra­ham, Isaac, and Jacob, all things hap­pen by the hand of God. The story of Job attests to the same belief: If some­thing hap­pens — whether for good or ill — it comes from God.

Per­son­ally, I find myself in sev­eral dif­fer­ent camps when it comes to des­tiny and one’s lot in life. It is easy to talk about a blessed life — hav­ing been born where and when I was in his­tory (in the peace­ful Eisen­hower years to a middle-class church-going fam­ily that pro­moted edu­ca­tion and hard work). I have no trou­ble attribut­ing it all to God, until I look around at so many that have not been so blessed. That is when I am tempted to think of every­thing as blind luck.

All of the think­ing and analy­sis in the world will not solve this one. Why are there so many appar­ent inequities? Even Solomon could not solve it (read Eccle­si­astes when you get a chance). If God is in con­trol, then why are there so many out of con­trol sit­u­a­tions and chaotic eras in his­tory? The answers reside in some sort of higher pur­pose or wis­dom, which does not seem to help when you are in the mid­dle of the mix. In the next life it may all make sense. In this one, it resem­bles a Chi­nese puz­zle — com­pletely unsolvable.

The real irony has to do with how my dis­as­ters have been hid­den bless­ings. That also seems unfair. Why do I keep com­ing out smelling like a rose? I have had more than my share of health prob­lems and close calls, yet in my mid­dle years my med­i­cine cab­i­net con­sists of sim­ple aspirin — not even any Band-Aids. Is it luck or bless­ing? Is it both or neither?

In the end, all I can do is express my grat­i­tude and see what I can do to help oth­ers. My lim­i­ta­tions have proven to be the doors to all sorts of good things. The less I have, the more I seem to appre­ci­ate what I do have and the more will­ing I am to give the rest away. That too I can­not under­stand. I can­not solve it, so I might as well just live it and see what happens.