Food for Thought: As Luck Would Have It
by Ardith Hoff
Some people seem to be able to spot four-leaf clovers much more quickly than others. Are they just lucky or just better at seeing differences in patterns within the clover patch? Does their ability to find four-leaf clovers bring them luck or do the good things that happen after their discoveries just get credited to the find? Does the “luck” get extended to a person to whom the gift of a four-leaf clover is given? Are some people lucky by providence and others just less lucky by chance? Do people create their own luck? Are people who seem to be unlucky just doomed? Is “luck” even real, or just a figment of someone’s imagination?
If you equate the word “luck” with the word “blessing”, and believe that everything good is from God, then you know that finding four-leaf clovers has nothing to do with luck. My friend, who is adept at finding four-leaf clovers, often sends me one. I feel blessed to have a friend who sends me gifts to let me know that he thinks of me from time to time. The blessing is in the friendship, not the clover.
One thing is clear. Some people are more fortunate than others. In some cases, they might have gotten a head start in life through the circumstance of their birth. In other cases, they worked hard to create a better life for themselves. But even they needed the opportunities to do so. Some people never have a chance. How can we reconcile that with a loving and benevolent God? Why hasn’t God provided equal opportunities for all? Why was I born in the USA, and the child I sponsor through Compassion International born in a poor third-world country to parents who are unable to care for her? How did I, who did nothing good enough to deserve it “luck out”, and she, who did nothing wrong, get “short shrift”? The answer seems to be, “That’s just the way it is.”
“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.” Ecclesiastes 9:11-12
God has promised that someday we will understand fully. Be patient!