My Journal #2

Destiny Or Not

Prompt: Do you believe in destiny?

No I do not beleive in Destiny, per sae. I do not beleive in pre-destination which to me is the same thing. In my understanding, it means your life is laid out for you and what happens will happen no matter what you do or say. I believe in free will.
I believe that If you choose a path and ask God's guidence, he will help you to make the right choices when they come your way. Who you marry, what job you have, what car you buy and even your daily choices. I believe things happen for a reason. A car just doesn't run into you because it drove itself there. Someone made a choice. Not to get their brakes fixed, not to heed the signal, to be distracted (texting) when they were driving.
Too many times I have heard people give testimony about a time they called out for help and their car stopped at the edge of an embankment. We may have heard the song "Jesus take the wheel" That is not a myth. It has happened.
There is a fine line in most people's mind about what God's plan is for your life and your part in it. Let's take it from a parent's perspective. As you raise a child you instill the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. Don't eat off the floor, don't touch the stove, don't run into the street without looking. Then there are the basics, Don't talk to strangers or take candy from a stranger. As the child grows they question your rules. You give the alternatives of disobeying you, the laws of the land and common sense laws for their protection. When they begin to form their likes and dislikes you guide them toward a set of circumstances.
Many parents push their children along a path they have chosen. The child might be a talented figure skater, baseball or football player, hockey or chess player. They make sure every opportunity is provided to achieve the highest goal. What if the child changes their mind. They want to be an architecht not a hockey goalie? They want to be a doctor not a figure skater? You get the picture. Destiny would say, tough, its your destiny. You are good at it for a reason so you  must put every effort to achieving that statis. In this there is no free will. The parent has chosen, using the promise of talent or their own desires. I know this scenario is open for debate but give me a bit of slack and don't pick the details. Go with the concept.
While a parent may guide, provide the opportunity the child must make up their own mind. They must take all the facts, professional opinions and chose for themself. If one asks God for guidence, He opens the door to where He wants you to be. You, however, must make the choice to go through the door. If you see another more pleasureable door, you may turn from His and say, Nope This is where I want to go. If things go wrong, he will help you in that situation. He knows what you will choose, it doesn't make him any happier if you go at it from your own choice. I don't understand it all. I'm no expert on all of this, I do know I've made good decisions and bad decisions. Some of the "bad" decisions have broght joy and happiness inspite of what might have been had I waited and been offered a different choice.  Some of those decisions have had a high price. I don't believe that to be destiny but my poor choice of words and actions.  I still might have been drawn to the same end with other choices less uncomfortable for me, but I made the choice to say or do something that cost me.  I'm sorry for it but I have to take the consequences for those actions, I can't blame destiny or fate for something that I had a hand in.
Taking repsonsibility for your own actions in a given situation then making more informed choices or just keeping your mouth shut is a learning experice at any age.
Some of us never learn.