Follow the yellow brick road

Do you ever wish you knew what your destiny was? Do you believe in destiny?

"Destiny may be seen either as a sequence of events that is inevitable and unchangeable, or that individuals choose their own destiny by choosing different paths throughout their life. In the sense of being unchangeable it is said that the different courses of action people take may still lead to a predetermined destiny."

Do you remember those old Choose Your Own Adventure books? My friend Rebecca just did a choose your own date where she had envelopes with different paths they could take. I believe in destiny. I believe that there is an end we all face, but that we just get to pick the path to it. For example, if I'm goug to get hit by a bus it doesn't matter if I turn left or right at an intersection: I'm still going to encounter that bus, but I have the choice of which way to turn.

Does that make sense? I know it's kind of fatalistic, but I think it can be a good thing, too. We could be destined for glory on the battlefield, for being the next Marie Curie or Einstein. Our destinies can lead us to a million different and interesting places.

But do you ever wonder what yours is? Is it your destiny to sit in that cubicle or office all day long and then go home too tired to do anything else? Is it your destiny to work for the paycheck at something that's just ok, but that you don't have a passion for? And if you could work in your passion, what would it be? Where would you go?

What's the difference?

Fate: the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do.

Destiny: a predetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency

Turning it over to God: believing that a power greater than yourself is in control.

I believe in fate and destiny. I also believe in God. I believe I can turn things over to the care of God, as I understand him. So what's the difference? My therapist asked me this this afternoon, and I'm not sure I know, yet.

Ok, so "the hand of destiny" is believing that something is bigger than you and is in control. The Fates are mythical beings in control of your life. Then there's God. All of these things are bigger than you, and are in control where you are not.

From a new age blog: "The Bible has the wonderful passage in Ecclesiastes 1-5, where it states; there is a time in our lives to build up, and to knock down, to be born to marry and to die. In other words every thing happens for a reason, and also when it happens."

Right. Things happen on God's time and not yours. It's your destiny, fate, His will. I don't think I get the difference, if there is one....