I have an interesting tale to relate today. I attended a meeting this morning of people who were largely agnostic and atheist. I have considered myself agnostic for some time, because I no longer believe in the faith tradition of my youth. While I think all religions espouse good, I personally don’t believe in any one religion anymore. I’ve struggled to figure out what I do believe.
One atheist I spoke to at this meeting said he believed all
things were coincidental and he hadn’t seen proof that there was a God. I
respect his right to believe that. But my feelings are different on that
subject matter. I have had so many answers to prayer. Many of my answered
prayers came in an immediate way. After much search and no luck finding items,
I will remember to pray. It is then-and only then-that I feel guided to where
the lost item is hiding.
This week I went to a local food bank and had several large reusable grocery sacks full of heavy items. I needed to carry them a distance to my second-floor apartment and I didn’t relish the thought of doing so. I said a quick prayer that someone would offer to help me carry the items. As I walked up the path, someone saw me with my heavy load and offered to carry it upstairs for me.
Was this coincidence? An atheist would say “yes.” A person of spiritual
belief would say “no.” An agnostic person would say “maybe.” While I am
agnostic in not knowing many things of a surety, I started to question this
small miracle today after speaking with atheists. But this thinking left me
feeling unsettled and very alone in the Universe. So, I thought I just would
continue not to know the answers to these spiritual questions until the
following happened…
I had planned to write this afternoon but felt drawn first to look
in a bag I had just taken out of my storage unit yesterday. It was an unexpected
bag as it had DVD’s on the top of it and I had only taken bags with DVD’s from
my storage unit. Underneath the DVD’s, I found a megahaul of good fortune. (My
son uses the term Megahaul when he gets a bunch of items for his birthday
or that he ordered for use in his YouTube videos.) I have had quite a few items
on my mind lately: some that I desired but didn’t know where they were, some
that I wanted only recently and some that I’ve been missing for years.
I have been obsessing recently about getting a new perfume
but I couldn’t bring myself to select one and pay the exorbitant price. Item #1
I found was a bottle of perfume I don’t even remember having but whose
fragrance I like. Item #2 is something I’ve wondered as to the whereabouts for a
few years. I found the perfect shade of magenta lipstick from MAC a few years
ago. It was a limited edition shade, so I bought an extra lipstick for later
use. Earlier this year, I ran out of my favorite lipstick shade and haven’t
found a suitable replacement since. So, item #2 was my long-lost favorite lipstick
still new in its package.
Recently, I sold almost all my jewelry as I don’t feel the
need to have as many things. But, I wondered where this one fuchsia fused glass
pendant was located as I wanted to keep it. Well, as you guessed it, that
pendant was item #3. Items 4 and 5 were things I’ve been meaning to buy
recently, moisturizing chapstick and new pens. I found new versions of these
items. Item #6 comprised quote cards I kept on my bathroom counter some time
ago and which are in my bathroom now. Item #7 was my favorite quote book,
called “Everyday Mindfulness.” This book has a mindfulness quote for each day
of the year, such as “I opened up two gifts this morning. They were my eyes.”
Item #8 was particularly special to me. Back before Covid
19, I taught a meetup group, called “Worry Warts No More.” For that group, I
came up with a list of 16 ways to reduce worry and negative thinking. Since
that time, I couldn’t find the file I wrote with those 16 ways or the printed
paper handout I made for the group. I’ve started to write a book based on the
concepts I taught in that group and that handout would prove very helpful. Well,
you guessed correctly again, Item #8 was my notebook from that group and
contained the handout of 16 ways to reduce worry.
Many of these items saved me a ton of money and some were
priceless. More importantly, they restored my faith in something out there in
the Universe higher than myself and gave me proof over atheism. An atheist might still call this coincidence. But the timing of this amazing megahaul was exquisite; some could say divine. Just when I was lost spiritually, I felt directed to an unexpected bag with answers. I could have
called this blog, “Lost and found items of the universe,” including my soul.
