I'm not the only person who believes that things happen for a purpose. And I'm also not the only one who realizes that this philosophical viewpoint can be tough to hold when terrible things befall us, or the people we love. We battle with the meaning of life when unexpected things like disasters, or illnesses, or savagery come knocking at the front door. At those times it's much easier for me to consider life a collection of random disconnected events rather than to hand them over to faith and purpose. Yes, I choose to believe in destiny, but it's good to take a vacation from it once in a while.
I was born on the other side of the world, in Indonesia, and we were hustled aboard a ship bound for The Netherlands not two months after that. Four years later we immigrated to America where I grew up in Los Angeles. Those of us who originate in far-off places can at times feel the goading of the questions of fate: "What if we had never left? How would my life be different?" I may have been spared Polio but I surely would not have met my wife and therefore not have the children that we do now.
I am grateful and blessed that life has led me down these roads. And I would not change even a small part of the details. Except for the times I feel lost in my tent, I love the road of life my feet are traveling. I choose not to live in the "What if?" I think more and more I try to live in the "What now?" What great unseen blessing can we find down this unfamiliar road? I know, easier said than done.
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| Young Glen, left of center, with family. Photo taken just prior to immigration to America. |
