Ser·en·dip·i·ty

     Over Thanksgiving weekend, I watched The Parent Trap with my family (the 1961 version with Hayley Mills). Early on in the movie, the two girls are punished at camp and forced to live in the "Serendipity Cabin". Naturally, this is where they discover that they are twins. Well played, Disney.

     The first definition of serendipity on Dictionary.com is "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident". While most people probably haven't discovered that they have an identical twin in a cabin at camp, just about everyone has had those small moments of serendipity, those chance encounters, that make all the difference. 

     In my life, some of the best friendships I've made have come from spontaneous chance encounters. A friendship with one of my best friends from Virginia first started because we had lockers next to one another and both couldn't figure out how to open them during middle school orientation. Being in the same homeroom helped, too. I met my best friend in college playing badminton during orientation. I'm pretty sure neither one of us has even played badminton since that, either. Some of the best friends I made in college stem from one moment in particular: I was coming back from dinner and stopped by the SUB (Student Union Building) to use the restroom. In the SUB, I bumped into that same badminton friend, who then invited me to come to Life Group, which was about to start. I went with him that night and ended up joining. Through that, I met a lot of great people. 

     In Houston, the friends I've made here have also come from moments of serendipity. On my first day at work, there was a company-wide social event. During it, a few guys approached me and introduced themselves. Flash forward ten months later, and I've made a lot of good memories with them, whether that's shooting pool or going out for lunch. The first time I went to church in Houston, I walked in to the first Young Adults class I saw (there were 5 total). It turned out pretty well. I've made a lot of great friends in there and wouldn't want to be any other class. 

     There is a lesson that can be learned from encounters like these. Well, technically two if you count the cheesy cliche "don't judge a book by its cover". The takeaway from all of this is that we are where we are for a reason and that we shouldn't doubt our place. If we consider all that has had to break a certain way to meet the people we have, it's astounding. How different would our lives be if we went to a different college, picked a different job in a different city, or even just walked down a different path? Well, we never will know. We can, however, be thankful for the way things have turned out, for the people we have in our lives. 

     God has a way of putting us right where we need to be at the right time. It's all a part of His greater plan for each and every one of us. We may not always realize that in the moment, but it will all make sense in the end, even when we randomly decide to play badminton during college orientation. 

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