SPIRITUAL: WHY DO WE MEET CERTAIN PEOPLE IN OUR LIFE?

We meet many people. Many times randomly. Few of them become best friends, few of them enemies, few of them acquaintances, one of them may become spouse, and few of them we just forget that we met.

Why do we meet certain people in our life?

What’s the big deal, you may ask. Please try this now. From your best friends list, just think for few seconds how you met each one of them. I am quite sure you have met at least one of them so randomly that there was every chance that you could have never met that person. Yet, you met that person(s) and became best friends.

Often times I wondered, is it a random process that we meet the people we meet or there is something mystical about it exists that we cannot fathom. I would be lying if I tell you that I understand this. Sometimes, I feel it is completely random without any meaning. But there are times, when I realized that there is something really more meaningful in every meeting with a stranger.

Have you ever wondered sometimes that what if you had been to a different college than the one you attended? A different school. A different workplace. Would you be the same person as you are now? Definitely not, is my answer.

It is inevitable that the people we meet influence our lives to some extent. May not be completely. But every personal interaction has a role to play in our lives either directly or indirectly.

Do you know how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Applemet? They were introduced by a mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, when Wozniak was 21 and Jobs was 16 years old and later went on to found Apple Inc. What if they never met? From what I understood reading Steve Jobs biography, it is very clear that they truly complimented each other in skills and that helped Apple in the initial founding years. They met and they made history. Who knows what would have happened if they never met? May be, Bill Gates would be the happiest and a little more richer person in that case. And may be, we still be using the old music players instead of sexy iPods. We never know.

  To a certain extent I believe there are key people that cross our paths who have a profound impact on some of the choices and decisions we make in our lives. However it is important to remember that we (choose) our own friends, lovers, and spouse. Sometimes we opt to "go with the flow" or enter into relationships based upon happenstance. Whether it turns out be a good or bad experience we must remember we either invited or accepted them into our lives. Both people have to say, "yes" in order for things to move forward. It's almost like going to the store to purchase an apple and when you bite into it later you see it is spoiled. You can tell yourself "It was destiny. I was meant to have this bad apple." or "I need to learn how to be a better shopper."

But then again lets say the apple makes you very sick and you end up going to the emergency room of a hospital where you meet a doctor or nurse who you eventually end up marrying...etc

Inevitably one thing does lead to another. Every decision leads to another decision. When we think about how we met our significant other or spouse we might remember we almost did not go to that party, store, meeting, nightclub, take that route home, or join that dating site...etc. We wonder, was it meant to be?

We have control of a lot of things in life, but who comes in and out of it isn’t one of ‘em. Sure we can decide who we allow access to our heart and who gets the boot. When we’re introduced, where we meet and who we are at that time isn’t exactly something we can grab by the horns right that second.

There’s a quote that says people come into our lives for a reason, season or lifetime and I always hope you’re sticking around for the latter. But if you are a reason, it must be to show me that I need to fix the breaks and embrace the wounds. Perhaps you’ve served that purpose and any day now we’ll part ways. That’s a sad thought – heartbreaking in fact, but maybe that’s just the way it is. If you’re a season it’s because you were more necessary than you probably realized and a significant part of my surviving a difficult stretch in life. You provided the little bit of light in an abyss of darkness, the nourishment when I was starving, the ears when I needed a listener. Like most seasons though, you’ll run your course and suddenly be gone. Reasons and seasons both suck in the end, but they’re deserving of some appreciation if you take them for what they’re worth.

Now if you are a lifetime – well then that means everything is going to work out. The worries, concerns and uncertainty will eventually disappear. Being involved in each other’s forever may not show in the cards right now, but who’s to say that the next hand we’re dealt won’t make it visible? If you’re here for a lifetime then that changes everything. If you’re here for a lifetime we haven’t met at the worst time, we’ve met at the right one — the perfect one.