I love the movie Bruce Almighty. I've only seen it twice, and I'd love to add it to my rather small dvd collection at some point. This particular scene came to mind today as I was thinking about the idea of coincidences. Take a look (hopefully I did this correctly!):
Bruce is desperately searching for a sign from God, and all of the signs that he gets, he ignores. While I have never given much thought to "signs from God" and I am pretty sure I've never specifically requested any, because it can be so subjective to truly know whether or not something is a sign, I do believe that God can speak to us through seemingly random events.
If you've been following this blog since I started writing regularly in the last couple of months, you know that in my life right now I am doing a lot of thinking about vocation.
I also, during Advent, appropriately, experienced what it is like to wait and trust and pray and hope.
Also during Advent, I began an email conversation with my friend Andy that I ended up not being able to respond to until after I'd moved. It took me almost three months to finally sit down and write out the thoughts that I'd begun thinking. During this time, I kept seeing references to a particular place (I'll write about this in more detail in future posts) that served to remind me that I needed to send the email. I was somewhat amused, as if God was sending me reminders to make sure I did not forget about it. After I sent the e-mail though, I was surprised to see that these references have not stopped. It has made me wonder what the deeper meaning is, because I believe there is one. I don't think that it is all coincidental. I am not sure that anything really is ever a coincidence. Instead, when we experience "coincidences", I think we ought to pause and consider what we can learn from them.
What do you think about coincidences or signs or messages or how God speaks today?
Edit: this story is continued in the following posts:
Why Haiti?
What is Enough?
Plant Some Seeds
2 comments:
I agree! I think signs and coincidences (or providence?) are everywhere. But I think there are some people who can take it to an extreme. I struggle with balance in this area. I want to be aware of God's providence in my life but I don't want to make something out of nothing. Good thoughts Kelly!
That's the difficulty, isn't it? Being aware yet not wanting to make something out of nothing? It's why I am hesitant to even talk about "signs" because it's not like they are at all obvious for me, like, say, a burning bush :)
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