By Lena Mattice
Throughout my life I have come across so many people that have said words to me similar to:
- Why does it seem like some people have it easy in life?
- Why is life so hard for some and not for others?
- Why is it when I try to do what Heavenly Father wants me to do, why does everything always seem to go wrong?
- Why does this person or that person always seem to get what they want out of life when I always seem to struggle?
- Why does that person fit in with the crowd and that person does not?
- What makes a person popular and another person not?
- These are question that have come to my mind many times over the years and now finally I feel I have a few answers.
I grew up in a family of 13 children. Although growing up I did not have the joy of knowing what it was like to have a family that was large. I came along at the very end of the family as number 12. My sister just older than me was 10 years older than me. By the time I was old enough to remember anything, she was almost grown and moved on with her life. I grew up with a little sister that was adopted by my aging parents. My dad always said that he was not very lucky, except for marrying my mother. He was lucky to have her and us kids but everything else in his life was hard and not very lucky. What is being lucky?
Google says it is “having, bringing, or resulting from good luck”. Leslie Householder in her book Hidden Treasures has an acronym for Lucky “Living Under Correct Knowledge”.
When I married my husband, I told him my dad’s thoughts where that “Boring’s” (that really is my maiden name)
‘Just don’t have very good luck.
‘He said to me “Well now you married me, so your luck has changed.”
An Article about Tyler Haws on the LDS Channel called SEEING HARD WORK PAY OFF. Says-
“Some people are just lucky—lucky at getting into a good college, landing their dream job, and marrying their perfect someone.
But is it really luck? Sure, luck may have a little to do with it, but usually getting what you want out of life starts and ends with hard work.”
Some people think things that happen in our lives have to do with luck, while others believe that it has to do with our Heavenly Father and following his plan. Some people say it is Karma. Have you ever thought I hope Karma gets them? Or they better watch out Karma will get them. Usually when you say something like that it refers to people that are not very nice and they do not do very nice things to the people around them. Some people say Karma is what it is because the person has done something bad to get bad luck or something good to get good luck.
Karma is a byproduct of how we treat others. If we are kind, others will be kind to us. If we are mean, others will be mean to us. We all know one of the golden rules: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This rule is also in Matthew 7:12 (King James Version of the Bible). “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you”. The definition of Karma is “the relationship between a person’s mental or physical action and the consequences following that action.” (Google Dictionary)
When my son decided to play football at a college that is 14 hours away from our home, I had so many concerns. My son was nervous. He would be moving away 2 weeks after he turned 18. I told him he would meet some great people in our church in that area that they would take him in and make him a part of their family. He told me. “Mom you are very optimistic.” I laughed and said “yes, I am, but I also know how people are in the church and I know that we have always tried to help others so now I know you will be helped.” He laughed and said, “ok mom whatever”. When we showed up at church that day my husband started talking to a woman while I was talking to another person. He told her we were from Arizona. She said, “Oh really my grandma used to live in a small town in Northern Arizona.” My husband asked her what town. She said, “oh you won’t know this small town.” He said, really, what town?” She laughed and said’ “Joseph City.” He said, “That is the town my wife grew up in.” Once I got the chance to talk to her, we found out that I knew her grandma and her mother knew my dad. It made our huge world a little bit smaller. It made me realize that there is no luck in this world. People are placed in our life for a reason and there is a master gardener that knows what we need when we need it according to how we go about our life and the choices we make. I’m sure that some people would say that my son is lucky to have them move there 3 years before my son did. I say they ended up there for my son’s benefit. They needed him and he needed them. He has been a blessing to them and they are a blessing to this mother’s heart with her son so far away. I don’t believe any of that occurred by chance.
Kenneth Wong in his 12 laws of the universe says “The Law of Cause-and-Effect states that for every cause there’s an effect. In life, our thinking is the cause, and our experiences are the effects of our thinking.” A circumstance will not cause our outcome but the thoughts we have around that circumstance will cause our consequence or our result. Trevan and Leslie Householder in their book Guided Mindset Mastery (p. 363) says “Nothing happens by chance. Every choice has a consequence.” That consequence could be a positive one or a negative one depending on how you look at your situation. Your life is the way it is by the choices you have made in your lifetime. When looking at other people’s lives we can say they are lucky or we can say they are a byproduct of the choices they have made. Is it luck or is it Karma or is it the law or Cause and Effect?
Whether it is luck, karma, by chance or following the Law of Cause and Effect, the right thing to do is treat people with kindness and in return you will get what you give in this world. Stop and take a breath every once in a while, and think about how you can make this world a better place.
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For more about the seven laws that govern prosperity, click here to read Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Astonishing Help With Your Money Matters FREE.
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