If you don’t know what you want from life
You are quite likely to get it
This two-line poem deals with a basic theme of life: discovering what you want from life. Of course, the starting place for this is not knowing what you want from life. This is a universal experience. Nonetheless, if you continue in life not knowing what you want from life, you will probably end up where you are headed. Worse yet, if you don’t even know where you are headed, then you certainly cannot know where you are likely to end up. The second line is the real twist that can be taken several ways. First, what you are quite likely to get is not knowing. Second, you’ll end up where you’re headed, which can be problematic if you don’t want to continue in that same direction or if you don’t even know which way you’re headed. Third, and my favorite, is that life will bestow upon you a measure of grace and you may actually get what you want from life not even necessarily knowing what that is. This is an axiom of one of my favorite personal sayings that God never gives me what I want, God always gives me something better. This is the type of metaphysical optimism that I am prone to meditate upon. While this is not an argument for not spending time and effort discovering what you want from life, it is a recognition that our ability to fully see what is good for us is limited, and God’s grace can play key role in self-discovery and interacting with the universe. Surprises can be scary. Surprises can also be full of grace. One of the things I want from life is to be open to the graceful possibilities and surprises that transcends my finite mind and my veiled heart. May you experience abundant surprises full of grace.
