In ancient times a Chinese farmer lost his only horse. The horse had bolted from the yard and was gone. His neighbours came by to sympathize with him. 鈥淪uch bad luck that your horse is gone,鈥� they said. But the wise farmer said: 鈥淧erhaps, perhaps not.鈥�
And he was right because three days later the horse returned bringing with it a wild horse from the mountains. So his neighbours came round again saying: 鈥淪uch good luck, now you have two horses.鈥� He said again: 鈥淧erhaps, perhaps not.鈥�
And he was right for while his son was breaking in the wild horse the son was thrown and broke his leg. Once again the neighbours came round. 鈥淪uch bad luck your son broke his leg.鈥� But the farmer said simply: 鈥淧erhaps, perhaps not.鈥�
And he was right because a few days later a warlord, who was losing a battle, came to their village to round up all the fit young men, but they did not take the farmer鈥檚 son because his leg was broken. The neighbours came round again saying: 鈥淪uch good luck your son was not taken to war鈥� and the farmer said: 鈥溾�楶erhaps, perhaps not.鈥�
For the most part we seldom know whether the events happening in our lives will serve us well or not. There are exceptions. Some truly terrible things happen to people 鈥� early deaths, dreaded diseases, houses burn down and so on. These, often, simply have to be endured and, if we are fortunate, people who have had similar experiences, can be a comfort to us.
But generally there is a sense that God can make good things come of most everyday things that happen to us. A sense of humour, some perseverance, hard work and good companions can help us fi nd the God moment in just about any everyday situation.
Of course if we have learned to practise looking for God in every situation we can get better and better at discovering the subtle clues that we are not alone. We live in God鈥檚 world.
鈥淲e are not alone, we live in God鈥檚 world鈥� are the first two lines of the United Church of Canada creed.
