Are we to Live the Life we are Dealt?

I was reading an article, and the author gave all their success and challenges in life to what they believed was fate. To summarize, they said, “I was dealt this hand to play, so there is nothing I can do?” Already from their point of view, everyone’s life is set and nothing we do in life matters.  Everyday will just deal us a new hand of cards to play.

I was later came across another page and it’s quote is what caught my eye.  It said, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll. I agree that we are all “dealt” a hand to play in life, yet that is a small fraction of the picture.  I like the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. The hand we are dealt can be scene as the talent given to the servants. It is now our choice what to do with what we have.

I know that God provides for the needs of His people in a way that is consistent with His eternal plan.  I sometimes may get confused between our time of “Need” and “Want”.  The 10% mentioned in the quote above may also be what needs to happen to us for God’s eternal plan, yet not necessarily ours.  In the book of Genesis, Abraham is a great example.  Abraham reacted through faith.

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual, all that we have and are, we owe to Him. Your skills are a blessing, and how you use it is your gift back to God.  29"For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." So take Action and React.

Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.