Disney comic character Gladstone Gander’s lucky rabbit’s foot always brought him luck.
As a kid, I dreamed of having one, never thinking about how unlucky the foot’s original owner must have been!
At a crucial point in a golf tournament, legendary Gary Player sank a putt from an impossible position.
Then, as the applause from the gallery faded, one spectator yelled, “Lucky shot, Gary!”
“And the more I practise, the luckier I get,” quipped Player.
Good luck might be a boost, and bad luck can be deflating, but luck comes without consulting our hopes or our fears. And it never lasts.
Good luck can turn sour without warning, as many gamblers have found. Sometimes at great cost.
Bad luck also has its limits, for sudden setbacks can open new possibilities.
Charles Kettering proved this most notably in 1915 after breaking his arm while trying to crank start his car.
This was the only way to get going, but because engine compression could kick back without warning, drivers risked possible arm or shoulder damage anytime.
Ironically for Kettering, this proved a lucky break.
For as an engineer, he used his recovery time to approach the problem creatively. The result? Electric starter motors which ended the danger for everyone and led to General Motors appointing him as their new head of development.
Kettering eventually held almost two hundred patents, and became a source of famous quotes like, “Keep going – you’ll never stumble across anything while you’re sitting down!”
Whatever its effects, luck will always be an external influence, while life works best if we keep growing on the inside.
Internal growth is what God is all about, for nothing takes him by surprise, and he invites us to grow by trusting his grace and guidance.
For while luck is elusive, God’s grace is always on offer. Ours to accept, if we only ask.
God understands us because he became one of us though Jesus, and he promises to stay in whatever we go through.
Not just as a passive observer but poised to turn our biggest problems into bigger solutions that spread benefits way beyond our own needs.
We may never attain Kettering’s fame or influence, but whoever we are and wherever we are from, we can become agents of God’s grace and spread his encouragement to folks in our circles of influence, no matter how small that circle may be.
Noel Mitaxa
On behalf a church near you, inviting you to explore God’s love
