I’ve got to admit that I had no less than 3 topics go through my head today for the writing prompt. What I ended up with is none of the three. I suppose that’s what happens when you finally clean yourself up and shove off to a party for a few hours. I come home after a few glasses of wine ready to crawl into bed and I let my mind pour out. It’s not entirely coherent. Or maybe it is but it’s something I think about often.
Today’s (Optional) Writing Prompt: What’s your take on fate? Does everything happen for a reason? Are we in control of our own destiny?
Here we go…
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Do you believe in fate? I think fate is sort of a confusing word, at least to some people. It infers that everything is predetermined and we don’t really have a say in what happens in our lives.
Que sera sera. Whatever will be will be.
I don’t believe in fate, by this definition. I do, however, think that we are often given opportunities in life that lead us down the “right” path. The right path is different for everyone and it is ultimately a choice. But we can’t make the right choice if we’re not open to the choice.
I often hear people blame God for things that happen in their lives.
“The god I believe in wouldn’t allow something like this to happen.”
And yet, they rarely stop to think about this same god that would allow many wonderful things to happen: producing wonderful children, hearing birds sing, watching the flowers bloom in the spring.
I think the same thing it true in our daily lives. We’re quick to accept credit for our success and quick to lay blame for our failures.
In this regard, I don’t believe in fate. I don’t think we have predetermined lives. I think we all have free will and we make choices to make our lives more meaningful. Unfortunately, people are quite capable of making choices that are less than divine. When this happens, this is when I truly believe tragedy strikes.
But I don’t have negativity or tragedy on my mind too much. I feel like I’ve been given an opportunity. I almost said I felt like I was being led but if I said that, that implies that it’s not entirely my choice. I’ve been given an opportunity that I almost said no to, simply because it seemed too hard and perhaps I had lost a little faith.
Instead, I said yes to the opportunity. And it’s blossoming. And everything seems to be happening in exactly the right way for exactly the right reasons.
More to come tomorrow…
21 comments
I believe that everything happens for a reason. EVERYTHING.
Amen. It’s hard to accept but I think it’s true.
Have mine set to go up at 9pm NZDT tonight. Will link up then. 🙂
Still catching up but hoping to read it!
I do believe that things do happen for a recent but it is up to use to determine our own fate.
There you go. Yes, we determine our own fate.
I don’t believe that everything is pre-determined, but I do believe that everything happens for a reason, and it is up to us to find the reason why. Certainly there are things I question, like a family friend’s 7 year old grandson being diagnosed with cancer this past week, but I have to believe that there is a reason for it. I think if we didn’t, we would all drive ourselves mad with questioning and anger.
I’m so sorry for the cancer diagnosis. It’s tragic and hard to understand but I do think everything does happen for a reason, even if we don’t always understand it.
You know how this topic hit home for me, right? I’ve been contemplating fate and destiny and how everything truly is meant to be for the past four weeks … and so today, I’m officially linking up with the “new” blog for your SOCS. 🙂
I know I’m behind but I definitely want to read this!
I have a really tough time with “everything happens for a reason” because such horrible things happen. I have a tough time imagining a benevolent deity scheming to have people washed out to sea and drowned by a tsunami or kidnapped by sex traffickers or living in slavery in the American South before the Civil War. There are natural phenomenon behind tsunamis, of course, and I don’t tend to blame natural phenomena on God’s intentions. Human greed – that’s a choice individuals make and individuals go along with. I don’t see a deity’s plan there. I see choices made without compassion.
P.S. I like that the title of your post plays on a Salt N Pepa song.
Glad you got the reference. I do think everything HAS meaning which is different, I guess, then HAPPENS FOR a reason. I look at everything here on earth as an experience to learn and grow, even if sometimes it happens inadvertently at the expense of others.
I don’t think God allows bad things to happen, per se. I think God set in motion a complex world of life, and occasionally disasters happen. He warns us that sometimes people will make bad choices and that we will face obstacles in our lives. He gave us the ability to choose our actions and I believe he probably thought the same of nature, giving it a chance to run its course, even if it meant that, should we be in the path of destruction, we’d have to overcome it. So He does allow things to happen in the sense that He gives it a chance or a choice, but I don’t think He means for harm to happen to any specific person or place. Great topic today!
I believe the end is fate, destiny, call it what you will, but the path we take to get there? That’s all us. We get to choose how fulfilled we are with our lives and make changes to the direction we’re going.
You seemed to take the words right out of my mouth on this one. I believe we are totally in control of what happens to us. But, there are some things that happen to sort of steer us in the right or wrong direction. In the end – we are the ones who make the decision. I guess you could call that fate.
I have such a hard time believing that everything happens for a reason. I think it’s because of my line of work, and seeing so many children hurt and abused. I want to believe in a grand design, but I also believe in choices and ability to choose our own destiny. Ah, great contradictions.
I have such a hard time believing that everything happens for a reason. I think it’s because of my line of work, and seeing so many children hurt and abused. I want to believe in a grand design, but I also believe in choices and ability to choose our own destiny. Ah, great contradictions.
Everything happens for a reason if you take the time to find the learning/growing experience in it. You can FIND a reason and a positive in anything, but it’s typically an active mental process that gets you there.
But as far as predestination goes, I don’t typically speculate on that. Opens up too many existential cans of worms, and I don’t want to offend anyone here! 🙂
The word “fate” has always spooked me. The was a popular book a few years ago – one I didn’t read. I can not think of the title for the life of me. But it was something along the lines of calling things into your life by thinking about it or dwelling on it. That spooked me too. I believe the God has a plan for me, and it is my choice to find it and follow it. Great post.
FYI, The link up is broken because the hosting site is down. I use the same widget on my blog, and my link widget is gone also.
I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason, good or bad but I also believe that you get what you give. Not to imply that an abused woman is asking to be hit (for example) but the energy you put into the world will be sent back to you.
-r