Blessings or Curses

I recently attended and did kirtan at the Rainsbhai Kirtan in Quesnel. Interestingly I learned a lot from that night which was unexpected. Just as we were leaving we noticed that most of the things from my family’s car were stolen, including a brand new Sarangi someone had carried for us all the way from India as well as sentimental and expensive items. As we stood outside, an Uncle Ji emerged and said that this was likely a blessing for us. He said that the time we have spent delayed here instead of on the road home was all for a reason. Others we had talked to said that perhaps the sewa of coming to the kirtan had offset some bigger harm, and that that loss of items, however sentimental, would be overcome compared to a bigger danger to ourselves. Indeed there happened to be both a highway accident that night, as well as a giant bear a few houses down from mine when I got home. I wondered what types of things God saves us from that we do not realize. For example, years ago my sister was headed to a restaurant but got a flat tire on the way, and while she was stopped on the side of the road, there was a shooting at that restaurant. It is easy for us to enter a stage of blame and anger that brings us away from our path. Perhaps we could have said that we shouldn’t go next year, or we shouldn't do this or that, or blame specific people or systems. Our sense of safety is ultimately constructed by rules we create that things will not happen a second time IF we do X, Y, Z.  I think it is hard for people to grasp this concept because we do create these mental rules about what keeps us safe and its hard to let that go and realize that things can happen regardless. God’s justice is true in a way that we don’t even see beyond the borders of what we can even really understand in this lifetime. The extra breaths spent towards our purpose by listening to more kirtan was a contribution towards my purpose that I wouldn’t trade for anything because we cannot buy more breaths in this life. The lesson I would like to pass on is the wise words of that uncle ji, that next time something happens perhaps think about the bigger picture that this is Hukam and there must be a reason for it all falling in place as it has.