“To be, or not to be…” - By Amy Ris

“If it’s meant to be, it will happen,” said the esthetician doing my nails this afternoon. I think this is probably the nicest sounding load of garbage I have ever heard. First of all, it doesn’t grammatically make sense. Globally, it doesn’t make sense in our world. Because what if “it” never happens? And “if it’s meant to be,” does that mean we simply sit back to watch and wait to see if we are one of the lucky ones who are meant-to-be-ers? And if we pour everything into making “it” happen ourselves, doesn’t that destroy the ethereal nature of the phrase “if it’s meant to be…”

For me, this phrase then leads into the discussion of how involved God is in our own, personal lives. Does he personally direct single people to find each other? Or do people find each other? And what about single people that don’t actually want to stay single? Can we simply say to them, “I guess it’s just not meant to be…”? How about a woman who can’t have kids even though it is her greatest heart’s desire? Is it simply just not “meant to be”?

And who are we to say what’s to be or not to be? That’s my question…

I am curious to know if you have ever said or heard this phrase and your own response to it within the context of faith and trust in God’s direction in our lives...

Duncan says the issue of how do we talk about these things with each other is as important as our theology...

Why is it so difficult to do these conversations well?