There are no coincidences, only messages.

Do you think that things happen just by coincidence?  I don't.  

I believe that those things are meant to be little signposts along our way in life, maybe even the still small voice of God that we are told to listen for carefully.  When we see them, we should pay attention.

I saw a signpost last night.  But, really, maybe I should have noticed it Christmas Day.

For several months, I had been wanting to watch the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  And I mentioned here earlier that I had searched for it on eBay but talked myself out of buying it; actually I talked myself out of it several times over the course of that time.  Then I discovered a copy of the movie in a place I never thought I'd see it:  the local dollar store.  I never pay $10 for a DVD but I had gotten a rebate check from the electric co-op the previous day, so I decided to give myself a treat.

For weeks, I had also been wanting to get a copy of the latest Mitford novel, Come Rain or Come Shine.  I've collected all of the other Jan Karon books ever since I discovered them twenty years ago.  But I was waiting impatiently for an inexpensive used copy to come available on half.com.  So when someone very unexpectedly asked me what I wanted for Christmas, that's what I said I wanted, although it is unlike me to ask anyone for anything so specific.

I had no reason to imagine that I would have both the movie and the book for Christmas.  And I had absolutely no idea that they both had one very important thing in common, although they are nothing alike.  

Why didn't I notice on Christmas Day?  Maybe I just wasn't ready to listen.

I was impressed, though, and I've said so, by the tagline from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:  

It will be alright in the end.  

And if it's not alright, it's not the end.

When I read a new Mitford book, I do so twice:  once for the story and once again just to enjoy it at leisure.  Imagine my surprise as I re-read Come Rain or Come Shine last night and saw this near the bottom of page 264:

"I think John Lennon said it.  

'Everything will be okay in the end. 

And if it isn't okay, it isn't the end.' "

There are no coincidences, only messages.  This must be something that I need to know.  Maybe it's something to prepare me for the New Year ahead.

Thank you, God.  

I will write it on my heart and remember.