Coincidence or God? (A Case of Three Pings)

Earlier in the life of this blog, I wrote about my favorite Einstein quote: "Coincidences are God's way of staying anonymous."  This time I have a specific example of how this applies to my life.  I call these instances "a case of three pings," described as three separate instances, when considered together, are more than just coincidences.  In this instance, it was in the course of this last week that I have had three unique experiences with injured birds.

The first was on one of my early morning walks.  On this particular day I spied a cat bird dangling upside down, entangled by a prickly plant.  I was able to free it and it hopped into the underbrush.  Today it is one week later and the cat birds that have been in my yard all summer are gone, having migrated.  I like to think that the cat bird I freed was able to join all of its kind on the journey.

The second was a goose near the last hole of a golf course.  Its comrades were under trees away from the hole but this one just sat in the middle of the fairway, grazing lazily.  I was determined to not go around this "stubborn" goose so I walked right towards it. When it stood and walked, it immediately hobbled, having one injured leg.  I felt awful watching it limp towards its flock.

The third was in my backyard. It was a bird I could not readily identify because it was molting.  I expected it to fly off with all the little brown birds which dispersed the second I slid open my door.  This one didn't budge, however, and as I walked toward it, it just took a few more steps forward, never getting more than a few feet in front of me.  Within a few minutes it went into the brush and because I needed to go inside, I just assumed it couldn't fly and went back in.  I still wonder what happened to it.

As soon as this third incident happened I knew I had to spend time with it.  Why?  Because I have learned that if something related happens in threes, it's time to consider it's meaning.  What is God* trying to tell me?  For me, these situations related to some other pieces of my life and boiled down to how I feel after different scenarios, scenarios of when I do something good, or something foolish or I don't do anything at all.

------------------------------------------------
Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:

1.  Is there something that keeps happening to you, the same thing, or three different related "coincidences"?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Our Life in Fiction (Coincidence or God?)

I love to read and to gain an even better understanding of what I read by listening to other people's views.  So a book club to discuss books from the New York Times' Best Seller List was perfect for me.  But then I got skeptical.  Many of the books we were reading seemed to be a bit unrealistic.  There seemed to be too much drama in one person's life and the events and people that came in and out of the story seemed to hold too much coincidence.

But then I started to read nonfiction and have come to realize that those books of fiction did have some "truth" to them in that real lives can seem unbelievable at times.  For example, we have seen how one cataclysmic event can happen after another cataclysmic event for one of our friends or a family member.  We have probably said about our lives or other's lives, "What's the chance that that could happen the way it did?" or "What a coincidence that that keeps happening to me?"

Einstein said "Coincidences are God's way of remaining anonymous."  To me, *God is a super "fiction" writer then, interweaving the right people, places and things into our lives at the right time!  How is it possible?

The thing is, life is a marvel.  We are so interconnected with the people around us, people we are in relationship with and even those we walk past who we don't know.  Chances are we know someone they know or we did have a chance encounter before or will in the future.  There are things that we do that impact others that we may never know the extent of the impact.  There are things that other people do that have an enormous impact on us and they may never know the extent of it.  Life is marvelously complicated that way, more so than fiction even!

Reflective questions: 
1.  What coincidences have occurred in your life recently?  Do you see *God in any of them?
2.  Is there a piece of your life that feels unreal?  Why?

3.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God what do you want me know)?

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you for today.  It is not for me to decide.