Walking the path

(3 minute read)

“Don’t drop that mirror; we can’t afford seven years of bad luck,” my mother said as she laughed. As a child, I learned that there was a long list of things that some people thought brought bad luck. My mother would point them out, and then we would laugh as if it were a family joke. One day, after learning the word’s meaning, I asked, “Are you superstitious?” She replied, “No, I’m not superstitious. But then, why risk it?”

Superstition was always fun until, one day, there was a terrible thunderstorm. My mother was deathly afraid of thunderstorms. I saw her push the dog off her lap, and she said, “They say dogs draw lightning.” It turned out that the “they” were the same as those who had decided what caused bad luck. The dog may have been more afraid of thunderstorms than my mother was. I tried to comfort the dog, but it didn’t want me; it wanted my mom. Even if we laugh while saying it, what we believe has consequences. The family joke was no longer funny.

Superstition is a type of paganism. It has multiple gods who control what’s going on in the world after being either pleased or angered by human actions. Knocking on wood calls forth the spirits within the wood. I discovered, back then, that it was not uncommon, especially with people over 40, to be superstitious. Strangely enough, most acted it as if it were a game. My mother wasn’t trying to do anything bad. She was just saying the things she had heard all of her life. She didn’t connect them with God, religion, or a belief system.

People over 40 from back then are all gone now. The new generation of people over 40 has a new game. The game is conspiracy theories. The rules are much the same. Instead of unknown, self-serving, powerful spirits that we should fear, there are unknown, self-serving, powerful people that we should fear controlling things that happen in the world. It’s a belief system in which the rich and powerful control the world. It’s a belief system that’s so easy to have.

One day, I was riding in a car with a man who said he was a bit of a “buff” on conspiracy theories. He began to tell short digests of various theories, including the heads of companies, politicians, and even royalty. It was actually quite interesting.

I asked, “Which conspiracy theories have you followed that proved true?”

There was a sudden uneasy quiet in the car. I suddenly felt I had asked an inappropriate question. I wasn’t trying to make a point; I was just having a polite conversation.

After a few moments, he replied, “I thought my wife, at the time, might be having an affair. It turned out that she was.”

I didn’t expect that answer. I said, “I’m sorry.”

By God’s mercy, we reached our destination in a few moments, and the conversation changed. I don’t know if the actions of his first wife had anything to do with his belief in conspiracy theories. I couldn’t help but wonder how I would react if it had happened to me?

Walking with the Lord in this life is like walking down a path through the woods. You can only see ahead to the next bend in the path, which rarely goes straight for very long through the woods. There is only me and the Lord on my path with the Lord. He puts people and things into my life that I love and some that I dislike. He then takes other people and things out of my life that I love and some that I dislike. Each time, my reaction changes me. Like a baby in the womb, they develop to prepare themselves for life after birth. The Lord is preparing me in this life for the life to come. Although there are some conspiracies in the world, it is the Lord who causes or allows things in my life, not politicians, kings, or the wealthy. Some of those things come with great joy, and others with great sorrow. I am changed, hopefully for the better, by how I respond to them all.