Aren’t We Lucky?

Just as it does every year, March has rolled in, the flowers have begun to bloom, and we have just finished celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. For one brief weekend, shamrocks, rainbows, leprechauns, and the color green dominated our lives and reminded us of this holiday’s underlying celebration of luck and good fortune.

We attribute much meaning to Lady Luck and her influence in our stories. We say “good luck” and “beginner’s luck” in our everyday speech. Tokens and traditions revolving around good fortune are found everywhere: the number 7, finding a coin heads up, blowing out birthday candles in one breath. On the flip side, one is considered unlucky if they break a mirror, open an umbrella indoors, or see a black cat cross their path. Whether for good or for ill, we tend to believe that this seemingly magical force we call “luck” can dramatically affect the circumstances of our lives, however unreliable and fleeting it may be.

Though we may joke about how fickle fate can be, luckily, we know through the gospel of Jesus Christ that life isn’t simply a series of random events determined by random forces of chance. Rather, it’s all a part of a divine plan that values our agency and an unchanging God who is guiding us every step of the way.

Our Heavenly Father loves every one of His children, and because He loves us, He has gifted each individual with the power of agency: the ability to choose. The prophet Lehi taught, “Because [we] are redeemed from the fall [we] have become free forever…to act for [ourselves] and not to be acted upon” (2 Nephi 2:26 emphasis added). The problem with relying upon fate’s fleeting whims is that it takes away our ability to choose for ourselves how we will respond to the inevitably unpredictable circumstances of our lives.

In contrast, the gospel of Jesus Christ values our choices and their effects. Spencer W. Kimball reminded us that, “If you succeed, it isn’t because of luck. Success comes from faith and work and prayer and from constant righteous effort.” The Lord has declared, “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:24). God doesn't work in random strokes of luck; He blesses us consistently when we choose to align our lives with Him.

In addition to exercising agency righteously, we must also learn to rely on a steadfast and unchanging God. We often attribute blessings in our lives to mere luck, but James 1:17 teaches instead that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” While luck is fleeting and fate is uncertain, our Father is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Mormon 9:9). As we “trust in the Lord with all [our] hearts, and lean not on [our] own understanding…He will direct [our] paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Interestingly, unlike the other tokens of good fortune mentioned above, the rainbow—a sign of hope and divine promise—is deeply rooted in Biblical doctrine. After the Great Flood, God made a covenant with Noah that He would never again destroy the earth with water. Genesis beautifully records, “God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:12-13).

If there’s anything I know with certainty about the God I love, it’s this: He is a promise keeper –– now and forever. Unlike the fleeting whims of chance or fortune, God’s promises are unshakeable. We can “trust with all [our] hearts” that just as He has faithfully upheld His covenant with Noah through countless generations, He will remain true to every promise He has made to us. In a world brimming with uncertainty and fleeting luck, His unyielding faithfulness and unwavering promises are a sure anchor to our souls.

My extended family has a mantra we often repeat: “Aren’t we lucky?” In reality, this saying isn’t about the whims of fate, but about recognizing the abundant blessings God has bestowed upon us. Luck, good fortune, prosperity–– they’re all simply substitute names for the heavenly blessings that God is eager to shower upon us.

Elder David A. Bednar, apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, declared, “The Lord's tender mercies do not occur randomly or by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives." St. Patrick’s Day or not, may we always choose to invite and celebrate the good gifts and tender mercies promised to us by an infinitely loving Heavenly Father. Aren’t we lucky indeed!

Avery Palenske is marching (get it?) through the semester at breakneck speeds. She is loving her classes, her jobs, and the opportunities she can find to spend time with those she loves. She spends her scarce free time looking for new soup recipes for her monthly Soup Sunday dinner parties and is slowly working her way through Amazon Prime’s rom-com selection –– and she feels lucky to be able to worship God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.