Happenstance
Michelle and I spent a couple of days in Door County
this week just to get away. The second
evening we visited one of our favorite restaurants in Egg Harbor because, in
addition to great food, their location just happens to be just a 10-minute
drive to the venue where we had tickets to see a play.
Several of the towns in the Door like to mix art and
fundraising. Egg Harbor is host to EggStravaganza
2025! Artists decorated large eggs
that get dispersed throughout the village.
In the fall they will get auctioned off and the money raised supports
new community art and the artists. One
entry in particular caught my eye.
First, it is a metal sculpture.
The irony of an egg, naturally fragile, crafted of metal caught my
attention. While the egg is usually
static, this one seems to suggest motion; any and all directions seem possible. Its title, Happenstance, begs the question,
at least for me, as to what in life in happenstance and what, if anything, is
intentional?
I have written several times about my yard being
dominated by the dandelions, usually from May through mid-June or so. When the dandelions become less obvious, my
yard becomes a bed of white clover. A
quick peek out the kitchen window is all that I need to assess the need to
mow. When the yard looks more white than
green I better get to it. Yesterday,
when we returned home, that quick peek let me know that a mowing was probably a
day late already. So, once the car was
unpacked it was time to get to work.
I was thinking about the phrase, “everything is coming
up clover” as I mowed. The phrase refers
to situations of prosperity, bounty and all in life being well. I smiled.
Just at that moment, a bee, likely disturbed from his clover rounds by
the mower, decided to take out his fear or anger or frustration, by stinging me
in the leg. Thank God, I do not have an
allergy to bee stings, so after a painful couple of minutes, the pain
subsided. I spent the rest of mowing
paying better attention.
This morning there was alignment between, a sunny day,
light winds, and an open calendar, so I decided to head up north for a couple
hours of fishing. My intention was
supposed to be catching some largemouth bass just for the fun of it. I also decided that it would be a good idea to
bring my bigger landing net.
As I drifted along the edge of a large bed of wild
rice I flipped my favorite bass lure – a Heddon Torpedo out and worked it back
across the choppy surface. I was surprised
that I had fished about two hundred yards without a strike – I expected the bass
here to be more cooperative. Suddenly
I saw a very large fish break the surface and engulf my lure. “There we go!” I said it out loud even though I was the only
one in the boat. My own thought s that
it is perfectly acceptable to talk to yourself, even out loud, unless you find
yourself asking, “Huh?”
It didn’t really occur to me until I had the fish on
for several minutes and had not managed to get him any closer to the boat that something
was not as anticipated. In fact he managed to pull out more line with a couple of powerful runs. I pulled back
hard on the rod to encourage the fish to get up out of the cabbage weeds. Suddenly I got a gook look at him twisting
and turning about fifteen yards out.
This was no bass. The body was
long and thick. This was a musky. It took me about ten more minutes to get the
big fish to roll up alongside the boat where I could guide him into the
net. My lure popped out of his mouth
just as he was fully in the net. I quickly
stretched out the measuring tape: 42 inches.
I plunged the net back down into the lake and turned him loose. He hesitated for just a second and then with
a flick of his tail he was gone. I
fished for another hour or so, but my heart and my mind wasn’t really in it. I had already received much more than I could
have asked for. The musky is known as
the fish of ten thousand casts. This one
only took about 50 or so until he was mistaken for a bass.
I thought about that egg again on the drive home. I know the answer. Nothing is happenstance because happenstance
suggests randomness. True, I know, not
all is pleasant whether it has to do with clover or not. Bees, when disturbed, can and will sting. Also true, I believe, that God didn’t manipulate
nature for my enjoyment. God’s will be
done whether I caught that musky or I didn’t.
One just needs to be open to the blessings, and grateful when they come,
because that is what this life is.
How precious to me are your designs, O
God; how vast the sum of them! Were I to
count them, they would outnumber the sands; when I complete them, still you are
with me. Psalm 139:17-18
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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