Everything Happens For A Reason

I know the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason" has become almost cliche in today's world, but I experienced something this afternoon that proves that statement to be true. I walked about thirty minutes from my Roman home this afternoon to buy a guitar. After walking back thirty minutes, I sat down on my couch and started to tune the new guitar. I was four strings in when the string snapped. I was exhausted after a class trip to a local farm earlier that day and I had no desire to go back to the music store at that moment. However, after attempting to play on a five string guitar for about two minutes, I sighed to myself and put my shoes back on to bring the guitar back in. It had already been a long day and this hour long walk just made it seem unnecessarily longer. After I got back to the store and had the string replaced, I was walking back when I noticed a woman walking in the opposite direction as me. She had just attempted to talk to the woman walking ahead of me, but had been ignored. I assumed she was homeless and was begging. She then approached me. She asked if I could spare just fifty cents so she could get on the subway. I said, "Sure" and reached into my pocket to gather change for her. As I did so, she thanked me and told me she had been asking people for an hour for just fifty cents, but everyone had ignored her. I gave her the change and smiled as she thanked me again, but as I walked away, I couldn't help but think of the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason." It was so clear that the day's chain of events (farm visit, buying a guitar, going back for a new string) had all brought me to that place at the perfect time with spare change for this woman. It was and still is incredible to me. And even more incredible is as much as that woman may have needed me, without knowing it, I needed her just as much. She reminded me of the beauty of life's tapestry and what may seem like another tiring point in an already long day is in actuality a part of an intricate plan. It was as if in that moment, no other combination of two people in this world would have been right. It was a moment meant specifically for me and this lovely stranger. It's truly incredible. I hope you all can experience that feeling at some point in your lives. We truly live in a magnificent world.