Lucky or Blessed?

So I’m someone who looks forward to basically every holiday. I enjoy the decorations, history, the flair. Growing up, Saint Patrick’s Day wasn’t something we ever thought of making special in my family. It wasn’t until I was college-age and visited my sister in CO that I learned the American version of Saint Patrick’s Day. It was fun in its own way but pretty evident that it had nothing to do with a saint.

So this year as Valentine’s Day passed, I started looking ahead to Saint Paddy’s Day, I remembered something from my son’s homeschool curriculum. It has a Character and Chatechism section, and we spent a few weeks on this one card because the concept was difficult for my 3 year old. The card has this cute watercolor picture of a 3 leaf shamrock. And I say shamrock here because I learned that shamrocks always have three leaves, while clovers can have a fourth leaf. Anyway, Saint Patrick used a 3 leaf shamrock to represent the Trinity. There is one entity, God, visualized by the shamrock as a whole, with its 3 distinct leaves representing the father, son, and holy spirit. I sit here centuries after he taught this, marveling at the simplicity and complexity of this representation. I believe it was God-breathed.

In my internet dive about the history and the religious ties of Saint Patrick, I learned that he is the Patron Saint of Ireland and is credited for bringing Christianity to most of Ireland (and that he was actually born in Britain). There are some really in-depth articles out there on who he was and what he did but this post is really about my dive into the idea of “lucky”. The word or idea “lucky” is all over Saint Patrick’s Day marketing and I’ve wondered for a long time whether Christians actually believe in luck. So here are my findings!

What is luck?

Being lucky or unlucky is the idea that by chance or probability, something in the universe made a situation happen. We as Christians believe that God is in control. Saying something happened by luck denies that God is in control. Kind of like the buzzword “manifesting” is nonsensical to a Christian because we can’t speak our will or “luck” into existence, only God has the power to do that. So in short, as a Christian, I believe the good things in my life are a blessing from God.

But as a Christian, is it okay to say that’s “[un]lucky”?

I think that using the wording “lucky” or “unlucky” is cultural thing, similarly to how we use idioms or sayings that are decades or centuries old, you know, that old chesnut. Here is the golden nugget, your true intent behind saying lucky/unlucky is what matters, God knows your heart. I believe you should give all the glory to God and train yourself to identify all the many blessings in your life so that you can say [and model for others] “what a blessing” instead of “that’s lucky”.

James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” <—gotta give credit, where credit is due! :)

So what do we make of life when “unlucky” things happen?

Have you ever wondered why the spectrum of small to hugely awful things happen to people? Have you ever wondered if that came from God? This is a potent question. The world we live in is marred by sin. I think that sometimes God lets things happen for reasons that we can’t fathom. Isaiah 55:8 reads, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” It’s important though that we remember that God is working all things for our good. Romans 8:1 says, “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Mindfulness comes into play when we try to view “bad things” as “good things in disguise”. When we do this, we are leaning into the Holy Spirit for discernment and spiritual maturity. I found a great website that speaks to this here (https://iblp.org/questions/why-does-god-let-bad-things-happen).  

A friend of mine had a funny way of looking at “unlucky”. She gave this example of if she randomly got pooped on by a bird flying overhead. She said, it is much easier to say “that’s unlucky” versus "Oh, man, that was a probability event that ended in a negative result for me." While that wording made me chuckle, the reality is, if that happened to you, you might automatically think, “man that was unlucky, gross, or I wish that didn’t happen.” But what if instead, we train ourselves to think, “what was God trying to teach me today?” Perhaps He was trying to teach awareness, self-control, patience, humility, or empathy. Or perhaps by having to take the time to change your shirt before leaving the house, you missed being in a car accident by 1 minute. We’ll never know. This is why it is so important to have faith that God is working all things for our good. 

Scripture

Psalm 91:9-16 is a prayer of Moses. It is a beautiful reminder not to be fearful, and that you’re luck in life are blessings from above. 

“If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you, no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”