The concept of divine coincidence is one that I'm continuously attempting to define for myself and others. (And I'd better get a move on it if I want it to be a theme in my NaNoWriMo project.) It's a combination of coincidence and divine intervention.
First, there's the concept of coincidence, which most are familiar with. When something (or someones) unexpectedly come together, seemingly out of the blue. You run into an old friend at the farmer's market or find out your 3rd grade teacher is the 2nd of cousin of your latest object of affection. That sort of thing is a coincidence. Most coincidences can be traced back to a choice. (You chose to have a crush on that person, you chose to go the farmer's market that morning, etc.)
There's also the concept of divine intervention. Getting struck with a lightning bolt is a dramatic example, but I've also seen avoiding crashing a vehicle get attributed to divine intervention. Any situation where divinity (or other unseen force) either creates or prevents an event from ocurring is classified as divine intervention.
But I struggle with defining, in words, what I mean by the concept of "divine coincidence." All I can do is give examples and explain how there are some coincidental (choice-related) aspects but also some divine aspects to the event. My most recent example is from Saturday.
I honed out my plans and found a way to be everywhere I wanted to be, at least for a time. I would have to miss the first couple hours of a much anticipated wedding reception, but would still be there. The bride and groom decided to end the reception an hour early (myself and one other couple were the only ones who missed the party inside) and I arrived just as they were leaving. No, really. They were walking out the door to the car as I was walking to the door from my car.
Since I arrived home earlier than I expected, there was just enough light to change the headlight in my car. I opened a text so as to ask a friend to help, but decided to call instead.
Fifteen minutes later, he pulled up next to my car and asked, "Did you get a prompting to call me?"
"No. Should I have?"
"Well, you called me just as I was about to do something stupid."
And, maybe I did get a prompting to call him and just acted too quickly to recognize it as such.
If the bride and groom hadn't left when they left, I wouldn't have left when I left, wouldn't have gotten home when I got home, and wouldn't have called when I called. All choice-related events, but those choices resulted in a situation attributed to divinity.
Maybe that's the definition I'm looking for.
1 comment:
Interesting!! Sounds like some divine action for sure... Pretty cool.
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