There's a Reason for Everything - Just Not Always a Good One

I hear it a lot. Whenever something happens that most of us would consider unfortunate, bad or even tragic, someone is sure to say, "That's OK - it's all good." Or perhaps they will get even more Christian and philosophical and say, "Everything happens for a reason."

I'm not one of those who subscribe blindly to the theory that everything that happens is ultimately the will of God. Not that I don't believe in God or don't believe that he has a purpose. I just don't always see how some things fit into that purpose.

I know, I know - someone out there is saying that I have only a human perspective and that I can't see a God-sized picture with my human eyes or grasp an infinite purpose with a finite mind. Well, that's true. However, there's more to it than that. To say that everything that occurs is ultimately the will of God is to make each of us part of some divine puppet show. If that's true, we have no will of our own and therefore the choices we make are really not our choices - they are the choices of God, predetermined and ordained for us.

Maybe I'm naive, but I really think that God has other things to do than to plan out our every move and choice for the day. I mean, think about it. Let's say that God wants us to be healthy. Therefore, it was his choice that I eat the mini-wheats for breakfast this morning instead of the doughnut that I wanted. So, whose responsibility is the bacon cheeseburger that I'll eat for lunch? If it's God's, then he is contradicting his own purpose. If it's my choice, it's not a particularly good one and I'll pay the price for it somewhere down the line.

I do think that God has a purpose for his creation. Part of the way it seems to work is that you and I have been given a lot of freedom within that purpose to be creative, caring and active. The other side of that hypothesis is that we also have the opportunity to be selfish and destructive. Most of us, if we're being honest, have had moments on both sides of the supposition. We've all been caring and creative in our own way. We've also had moments of selfishness. Is all that predetermined for us? There are good people who would say that it is. I disagree.

Without personal freedom, there would be no meaning to the choices we make. Any consequences for moral or criminal failings would be arbitrary at best (and if there are no consequences then that too is predetermined - I guess that's how some people get away with the things they do). The bottom line is that we each make choices. These choices govern us and our relationships with others. Often we are affected by the choices of others, for better or worse. Is that always what God wants for us? No. Is there always a reason for it? Often there is, but sometimes that reason is bad or petty or selfish.

When you get right down to it the choices that set the course for our lives (both our choices and those of others) are only half of the question. The other half of the question is this: How do you and I live with and through the choices we make and that are made for us? I haven't found any magic wand or incantations to make it better.

I can only depend on love, hope and second chances. I choose to believe that all three are possible.