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Something is called “providential” when it makes provision for the future. The root meaning of the word comes from the Latin “pro-videre,” which means “to see ahead.” So, “providence” would refer to divine foresight in shaping history and each and every human being in history. It essentially can be equated to God’s grace-filled guidance and loving care for us, but that may be an over-simplification of something far more complicated to describe.

The question, “what is providence?” is not such an easy one to address because it is so comprehensive, in that it involves God’s relationship to every single human being throughout history. Providence intersects at the junction where God’s sovereignty meets our individual human freedom. And this is where it gets complicated because you cannot emphasize the power of God so strongly that it negates the power of our human free will. In other words, to define “providence” you can never take history out of God’s hands or out of our hands. If you exaggerate one over the other then either God is limited and therefore not God; or we are not free willed beings and therefore not human.

Luck, fortune, or fate does play a role in the affairs of men (good or bad), but only to the extent that divine providence allows in determining what suits each person in shaping their lives in the context of history. Providence always circumscribes and surrounds both good luck or bad luck. In watching over the affairs of men, often divine providence can work better through our mistakes than through our wisest and most profound thoughts. Finally, if divine providence is truly active then there would be no such thing as a coincidence from God’s perspective; only from our perspective.

Many famous poets throughout history have written poems concerning providence. These would include Homer, Dante, William Shakespeare, John Milton, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alexander Pope and William Cowper, just to name a few.

*Read Michael Hickey’s poem “Coincidences” online at www.marconews.com/news/etc.

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Michael Hickey is a local writer and poet who lives in Pelican Bay and Swampscott, Mass. His book, “Get Wisdom,” is published by Xlibris Div. Random House Publishing and is available at 1-888-795-4274 Ext. 822, at www.Xlibris.com, or your local bookstore. E-mail Mike Hickey at Mikehic@nii.net.

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COINCIDENCES

by Michael Hickey

Coincidences happen a lot,

Corresponding in time or space,

Are they accidents or not?

Or perhaps all acts of grace?

Are they random or connected?

Can we ever be so sure?

The answer is subjected,

To a matter of conjecture.

Is nothing accidental;

Fate perhaps selecting?

Or is Providence instrumental;

God perhaps perfecting?

Coincidences indeed happen,

This we know-leave it there;

Why? A judgement call;

God may one day share.