Could you tell me a time you felt serendipity?

I’ve always loved the word ‘serendipity’. It means ‘the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident’, and feels delicious just to say. ‘Seren’ is also the Welsh word for star, so it feels extra magical to me. Serendipity is coincidence, fate, a moment of divine intervention. An attitude of serendipity is about noticing the good everywhere you go; observing the small but remarkable delights of everyday life. It’s having the perfect change in your pocket, or finding the coat of your dreams in a charity shop you rarely pass by. It’s returning to your house to grab something you’ve forgotten, only to run into a lost friend on the way back. Serendipitous moments are all around if we choose to notice them. 

I’m a Religious Studies student, so I’m aware that for many people, serendipity is the work of God in the world around us. For others, it’s just good luck and a happy circumstance. When something wonderful happens to us by chance, it feels as though the universe is conspiring in our favour, whether we really believe in it or not. 

Over the last two years, the world has felt uncertain and in constant flux. We’ve been forced to change and adapt in response to events bigger than all of us- to live in new ways and miss opportunities we’ve worked hard for. Finding the good in these times has been challenging, especially for those who have lost or been separated from those they love. Sometimes, it can feel like there is no silver lining. 

What these tumultuous months have taught me is the power of finding the good in the smallest of things. Call everything magical, and suddenly magic is everywhere. Moments of serendipity seem to seek you out to surprise and delight. In October, I lost a person I really care about, and it felt as though I was an unmoored boat on a dark sea. To find my way back to shore, I began a habit of writing a gratitude journal every day. I tasked myself with finding serendipity in tiny instances; making the perfect cup of tea, or waking up at the very moment the sun rose. Over the weeks, negative occurrences suddenly became imbued with potential to be good. I also reflected on the miracle of being exactly where I was; every choice in my life had consequently led me to that sunlit Edinburgh bedroom. Serendipity brought me my greatest friends, incredible experiences, and a life I love. 

While scientists and religious studies students normally hold each other somewhat at arm’s length, I believe Einstein expressed this philosophy best. He wrote ‘there are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle’. Who knows how or why we end up where we do. Maybe it is all part of a divinely constructed plan; maybe we are all just flawed and wonderful people trying our best for the years that we have. Maybe there’s no magic, no luck, no plan. I choose to believe otherwise.