The Power of Omens

At the encouragement of my son, I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It’s an inspiring story; I liked it. A Spanish boy named Santiago meets, Melchizedek who instructs the boy to watch for omens. Apparently an omen can be a message from God and can carry great meaning, offering inspiration to a person if he or she is able to identify the omen, understand its meaning and act on its instruction. I consider an omen neither good nor bad–just simply a sign.

My difficulty with this is not the part about an omen being important or prophetic. The part I struggle with is knowing exactly how to recognize an omen.

Last night something happened that, at first, seemed like a coincidence. However I have heard there are no coincidences; all things happen for a purpose. A guy I work with asked if I had read The Shack (I have) and we ended up having a long conversation about spiritual things and even talked about my book A Forever Place. This was an opportunity for me to do some one-on-one marketing for my book, but the “coincidence” was this guy actually enjoys reading and discussing spiritual things. Was that a coincidence? Or was it an omen?

Then this morning my favorite coffee barrister asked me a question that came from nowhere. “Have you ever been to counseling?” (I have. It was good. Thank you, Margaret!). My Barrister and I have never had deep discussions about personal matters, but I guess she felt comfortable enough to ask about my past emotional struggles. We ended up having a meaningful conversation about counseling and I was grateful to share my experiences. Was it a coincidence? Or was it an omen?

One of the routes I drive on my way home from work includes a long, banking curve on the interstate that allows cars to continue through the turn at 65 m.p.h. This evening, as I drove home from work, a motorcycle was in the outer lane and the rider and I accelerated at the apex of the curve, both at the same time. Was it a coincidence, or an omen?

It seems that I could interpret just about anything to be an omen. A song that comes on the radio, a particular shirt a co-worker wears, whether the trash can is full or empty, etc. Someone recently told me that there are no coincidences. All things happen for a reason and a purpose.

But which “signs” are truly omens from God or messages from the angels, and which day-to-day events are simply Life Happening?

Inquisitively,
David Wine