Those who cross our path . . .

I have spent long hours thinking about and then treasuring all the encounters I have had in my nearly 75 years of living.  In my youth, it never dawned on me, of course, that the people I met “had been sent;” had been part of the divine journey that was mine and only mine.  Even as a young adult I didn’t understand why my life was unfolding as it did.

Now that I know the “back story” as a result of reading the books of Caroline Myss, I have had reasons, many of them, to revisit my past.  Reviewing the myriad memories, focusing specifically on those experiences that had seemed difficult to accept at the time they were happening, gave me a much needed opportunity to realize why a situation had happened; what it taught me; how it fit into the rhythm of my life.  Every thing fits!  That’s the key fact here.  Our lives are like jigsaw puzzles.  Every thing fits!

I’m telling your story here too, you know.  What was/is true for me is true for you too.  It matters very little if we don’t want to believe this, and we surely don’t have to like this fact of life.  Nonetheless, it’s true.  Absolutely true.  And deciding to accept it as right, as well as good, makes our lives far more understandable.

I’ve realized that accepting this has made my life far more exciting too.  Nothing happened by chance.  And nothing will ever happen by chance.  No matter how disconnected some experience feels or looks at first, I now know it will fall into place and make sense.  Very soon after happening, it will make sense.

I’d like to suggest you try a little experiment here.  Choose two or three past experiences that you weren’t very fond of.  Write them down in your journal.  Then close your eyes for a few minutes and ask the God of your understanding to help you see the purpose for those experiences.  If an explanation doesn’t rise to your awareness, look closely at what was happening right before the experience, as well as right after it.  Those experiences should provide some data to help explain the memory.  If you still feel at a loss, this might be a good question to pose to God and then drop this note in a “God Box.”  In time, understanding will come.  At least this has been my experience.

The most difficult of all my experiences became understandable at long last because I was willing to accept the explanation.  Forgiveness, how to offer it and how to receive it, was my lesson.  In fact, over the intervening years since the abuse occurred, I have seen how necessary the practice of forgiveness is to any person seeking a peaceful journey.  And that’s my goal.  A peaceful journey.  What’s your goal?