I do not believe in them per se.

So much of life just comes down to the choices we make.

Free will if you like.

How you choose to exercise that gift tends to produce those overtly or covertly calculated results. Things which are done with intention, whether honestly acknowledged and accepted or dishonestly ignored and hidden, tend to yield precisely what was fated to be. It might be things that lead you to an outcome that may have been expected. On the other hand, it might be a response to an outcome that takes things down an altogether different path.

Like I said yesterday at the onset of my prior post, I am speaking of me. This comes out of my dented noggin from the singular “I” perspective. And when “you” gets added into my word salad, that is meant to be from the Mark perspective. Not you. I have no desire to return to that pulpit. Over stayed my welcome and singlehandedly created more alienation in my life than O’Bannon and Shusett combined. I chose my fate in many areas of life.

“Uncle”.

There, that is some of the fate of my design in a nutshell.

Then, there is destiny.

Not gonna call it fate’s sibling. More so a very distant cousin. Part of the family, but going back to quite some time ago. Unlike fate, which can largely be your design, destiny is something born of another one. By design, meant to bring good, purpose, fulfillment, joy, connection, love, and life. Among other things.

I think in the former, I created the design, created the plan and pretty much brought things down around me. Choices I made determined my fate. And if I made similar choices on how to respond to those circumstances, the self-destruction escalated.

But because the latter – destiny – is provided by a much older and wiser pillar of the family, it will encourage a more patient, foundational and divine journey to what you were meant to be. That is, if you can listen, accept and trust in it.

Yet in both instances, that one wrench remains as the constant. Dating all the way back to that garden.

Free will.

I cannot say it is mine, but dispatching the tendency to call it how I saw it and wanted it sure as heck changed the tenor of my life. Perhaps it was my fate to finally acknowledge that I did not know it all and needed someone else to show me the best way possible. It was destiny that called me to just let go.

Fate chose my destiny.