Good Luck Bad Luck?

Something personal I wanted to share. 

On our wedding, we were asked to choose passages from the bible we would like read out during the service. This went through a lot of verses.. but finally selected this one.. because we identified most with it. Personally, I felt very strongly about this verse.. because the message beneath it was something very close to my own heart. Here it is:

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Matthew 5 :1-12

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you"

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I felt like if I was a dying old man and I had but one thing to tell my children about how to live life on this earth, this would be it. That the things that are truly valuable in this life, isn't the things the world tells you is. That what is unseen is often more poweful and more significant that what's on the surface.


Interestingly, the priest solemnizing our wedding noted the verse selection and said that not many couples would choose such a verse on their wedding. Everyone else had a tendency to choose verse with themes of love. He said he reminded me of an old chinese story. Here it is:


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There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, 

The farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" 

A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. 

His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"


Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. 

Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?"


Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. 

Now was that good luck or bad luck? Who knows?

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The moral of the story is that everything that seems on the surface to be an evil may be a good in disguise. And everything that seems good on the surface may really be an evil. So we are wise when we leave it to God to decide what is good fortune and what misfortune, and thank him that all things turn out for good with those who love him.

And as the Priest was repeating the story, I was tugging at my fiancee wife trying to tell her how excited I was in hearing it... because many years earlier I had heard the same story and shared it with her because I felt it really said something about life.

Of course she just shooed me away, told me to stop grinning and pay attention to ther sermon. :-P

Was it pure coincidence that the Priest chose to mention that story? A story that I related so strongly to also?

I think not.

Cheers my friend. :-)