Lucky

You are so lucky!  I hear my kids exclaim during a heated game of (fill in the blank).  You are so lucky… I am so lucky… oh, what luck.

how did I get so lucky?

I always believed in luck.  The luck of the draw, the lucky break, the lucky girl…

and, then, sometimes… not so lucky.  The times that things didn’t quite work out, the outcome was not exactly what I had hoped, the luck had run out.

A gathering of friends… mothers… contemplating this…

does everything happen for a reason?

Is it luck, good fortune, misfortune… perhaps just a misstep… just a blink in the vast plan?  What is the purpose in these, seemingly, insignificant moments?  Do they add up to a greater plan… pieces of an intricate mosaic?  The puzzle of life and the 20,333 pieces that complete it…

it isn’t luck at all…

It has a different name.  A name I had heard for years… but had not not been aware of.  In all my years of marveling at the luck that swirled around… I hadn’t seen it clearly… as it’s true name… blessing.

The blessings of life… a husband, children, love, health, home…

Then, those moments, that make you wonder why you are so unlucky… where is the blessing in these moments?

I see it… the blessing is in the rebirth.  The shedding of skin, to reveal raw faith in need of refining… a character in need of growing.  A mother in need of believing… believing that all the moments are purposed for the great plan… for the molding of these jars of clay.

I look at the small, green plant ~ a representation of so many things to so many people ~ the three petals… I see the three – the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit… this symbol of “luck” ~ a reminder of the blessings in all things… I didn’t get so lucky…

I was blessed

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.