Not Everything Happens for a Reason | A poem

Not everything happens for a reason.

Sure, I believe that some things do. 

The creation of the world, the changing of the seasons, 

and yes, the fall, and reclamation, too. 

Or when, by an act of faith, we invites God’s hand into our lives

to push us, prod us, expand our minds, 

to perform what we might call ‘miracles.’

Those, I believe, happen for a reason. 

But when a drunk driver slams into a family of six, 

or when tyrants torture and murder the innocent;

when you’re hated and bullied just for being 

faithful, faithless, or just plain different. 

When the one that you love leaves you

for the love of someone you thought a friend, 

or when you’re laid off from a job

whose industry has finally reached its end.

Evil, heartbreak, and just plain accidents 

are rampant in mortality.

Not because they’re ordained by God, 

but because, in His wisdom, He allows them to be. 

And forgive the expression, 

but we can no longer pretend -

There is wisdom in the bumper sticker 

“Sometimes shit happens.” 

And no, it didn’t happen for a reason, 

and it wasn’t the will of God - 

but by his will these monstrosities 

that have developed as deformities 

in human nature will one day all be gone.

God knew that it would happen, 

and so He sent His Son, 

Who saw the unfairness, felt the scorn, 

rejection, heartbreak since the day He was born

till the day he died and uttered, “it is done.”

So you see, Christ happened for a reason. 

He’s the one who makes it right - 

He helps us heal, to grow, from all this poison

and upon the darkness shed some light. 

All things may not happen “for a reason,”

but this much I can say is true: 

that all things can be turned for good

if that’s what we allow Christ to do.