Everything Happens For a Reason

It has not been lost on me that lately my house is becoming the afterschool hub and in‑case-of-an-emergency way station. Since I am blessed to work from home, I often get, “Mother Allison, can so-and-so come over since his mom is running late?” or “It’s raining and (insert girl child’s name) doesn’t want to walk home and get her hair messed up.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love it!

You see, you don’t know how grateful I am that my awesome teenage daughter has found her niche in an activity she enjoys (basketball) and that she feels comfortable enough to encourage her friends to come over - any parent of a teenager will tell you what a blessing that is)!

Just a few weeks ago, we were Spring Break Central with more than one child camping out. And I remember glowing inwardly when a couple of months ago, three basketball players (my child included) hovered on my doorstep in search of pizza while waiting for a late practice to begin.

Anyway, Wednesday was one of those way station days.

Four stray children showed up on my doorstep in the rain when only one was expected.

The only problem was we on our way out the door to basketball training.

So I scramble around for snacks and say, “We got eight minutes, crew.”

But everything happens for a reason.

It just so happened that I had to run one of them back to the school which worked out for the best since my child needed her basketball togs which she just so happened to leave in her locker.

But alas - she couldn’t get them which meant she did not have the proper gear for training.

Then it just so happened that we then had to take a different friend home which means we ran into horrendous traffic at the height of rush hour in the rain.

Do you see a pattern here?

When we did finally arrive at basketball training, we discovered that our make-shift basketball gear had a major malfunction.

So I say, “OK, here are the options: tell the coach you have to leave (which you know he ain’t goin’ for); run to the store, which will only give you a quick hour or so for practice (which you know he ain’t goin’ for); or make do.”

Option three won.

I went on to my normal routine of entertaining myself for an hour and a half or so only to return to a benched player with a golf-sized ankle bone propped up on ice.

Turns out that the missing basketball togs included missing basketball shoes which means my child uses two-year-old track shoes instead.

Major ankle roll on a previously broken ankle.

Ugh!

But it just so happened that we were close to an urgent care center that just so happened to have an opening in 15 minutes.

The next day I get up at the crack of dawn to make a follow-up appointment with the orthopedic specialist who just so happens to serve most of the athletes in our school district and who already knows many of the coaches at our high school.

How awesomely amazing is God’s care of us? He / She is always in the details and I am finally learning not to be surprised.

So get this: how about my Gratitude-on-Steroids Experiment with The Magic by Rhonda Byrne ended Wednesday?

Coincidence?

Not likely.

Everything happens for a reason.

I wasn’t quite sure how to document the results of my experiment and was really sad to see it end. But I found this eventful, if not comical, 48 hours particularly fitting.

Could it be that my increased awareness of all the many blessings in my life have conspired to orchestrate serendipities I could never have imagined?

Like how I just so happened to have a meeting with a good friend I hadn’t seen in years who just so happened to know this basketball coach renowned for transforming junior varsity players into varsity players. And how this was an intention my child set for herself, unbeknownst to me.

So this is how I will document the results of my 28-day Gratitude-on-Steroids Experiment:

It seems to me that gratitude met with intention meets with miraculous manifestation.

You make the call.

But I know the answer.