Hello everyone, I have another idea to share, and it is pretty crazy.  It has to do with regrets and how what might have happened on those alternate paths could have been randomly horrible.  I had to say random when I am discussing God's plan, of all things, but what I am saying does support being thankful for God's overall providence. Many people already teach that he has a plan for each person and does everything for the benefit of anyone who loves his son Jesus Christ. So that is good to know.  But there is something else to say on a more practical level, and I hope people can see the difference between the main teaching and this other reassuring thing that is less appreciated.  It is just a comforting thing to remember when you actually have made larger mistakes.  And that is this: You could have been killed by a random tornado or accident or choking on a jelly bean on that other path that you think you should have taken.

Do you see how that is kind of absurd and yet true?  Like we just don't know the bad things that could have happened on the better trajectory of success or getting what we think we wanted. Like okay, I would have like to be a successful English teacher for twenty years.  But we don't know that I wouldn't have wound up in the news after an emergency I didn't handle well, or even something stupid like trip and fall outside of the school and be paralyzed for the rest of my life. I mean the stupider and more unlikely the incident, then the closer to the point I am trying to make.  

And here is the other thing about this:  A lot of times, meaninglessness is actually more of a weapon of pain and evil.  Senseless problems are a sad thing in the world.  But what if you can take that and console yourself about what has happened.  We all have things to be thankful for, and even when you are sorting out problems of poverty and failure, there are random horrors that haven't happened and to our knowledge, could have happened on any day if things had turned out better.