Have you ever wondered why things happen — why flowers bloom in the spring, why stars shine in the night, why clouds cover the sun at times?
Why do volcanoes erupt or mountains have slides? Why does the sun rise in the morning and set at the end of the day?
Just a part of nature, you might say. Everything can be explained by scientific means or in simplest terms. “Things happen.” Or is it really that simple?
If you are anything like me, you have gone through life wondering. About life itself. About things we see and things that just seem to happen.
I reflect on life and wonder why or how things happened in my life. Why was I spared when a schoolmate pushed me into a street in front of a speeding car? Why did I survive a wild automobile 360-degree skid on an icy road with a steep cliff on one side and no guardrail to stop a car?
Just a coincidence, you say? Just lucky?
Or might there be more to life than coincidence? If we reflect on our lives, might there be things that happened in our lives that we could not understand? For instance, why in my mid forties did I feel a calling to be a pastor?
In the 1960s the ministry was the furthest thing from my mind. In the 1980s my high school English teacher told my wife, “Bruce is the last person I would have expected to be a pastor.”
One time I felt a calling to a church in another state, and it turned out to be one of my worst life experiences. The congregation let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I wasn’t wanted there, and it was a terrible challenge — enough that I was left wondering if I was really meant to be a pastor. It turned out to be a test, and in the years that followed I was blessed with wonderful experiences.
Challenges? Sad or tragic events? At times. But in my senior years I treasure the way things have happened, even life tests and the mystery of how and why things have affected my life and my family the way they have.
Why do things happen in our lives? Why do bad things happen to good people? Do we simply live life as a series of events, or perhaps coincidences? Only God knows, but in the long run God is still in ultimate control, loves us even when we don’t care, and mysteriously works behind the scenes.
The psalmist says it best: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:11-12).
Bruce Mitchell is a retired United Methodist pastor living in Greenfield. This weekly column is written by local clergy members.
