Everything Is Purposeful

“With God nothing is accidental.” That statement caught my attention when I heard it in a recent sermon. That’s because I had been reading classic short stories in which every sentence, every phrase, every word, every twist and turn of the plot seemed purposeful. Nothing was accidental. 

The short story “Two Thanksgiving Gentlemen” by O. Henry is an example. It features an Old Gentleman who takes Stuffy Pete to a restaurant on Thanksgiving Day to watch him eat a big dinner. “The Old Gentleman was a proud American patriot, and he was pleased to have established this Thanksgiving Day tradition with Stuffy Pete. It was extremely important to the Old Gentleman that their tradition should continue” (lines 53-56).

The narrator’s descriptions of the two men make illustrations unnecessary. This year,

Stuffy Pete was not hungry. He had just come from a feast that left him barely able to breathe and move about. His breath came in short wheezes. The buttons that had been sewn on his coat by Salvation Army workers were popping from the pressure of his fat belly. His clothes were ragged and his shirt was split open (lines 29-33).

In contrast, the Old Gentleman was thin and tall and sixty. 

He was dressed all in black and wore the old-fashioned kind of glasses that won’t stay on your nose. His hair was whiter and thinner than it had been last year and he seemed to make more use of his big, knobby cane with the crooked handle (lines 60-64).

When they met at the appointed park bench, the Old Gentleman said, 

Good afternoon. I’m glad to see that this year you are enjoying good health in the beautiful world. For that blessing alone this day of thanksgiving is well proclaimed to each of us. If you will come with me, my man, I will provide you with a dinner that will satisfy you physically and mentally (lines 68-72).

As the narrator notes, “That is what the Old Gentleman had said every time on every Thanksgiving Day for nine years.” What’s more, “Nothing compared with these words except the Declaration of Independence” (lines 74-75).

Arriving at the designated restaurant, “the Old Gentleman led his guest . . . to the table where the feast had always been served.” The waiters recognized the two gentlemen and said, “Here comes that old guy who always treats that same bum to a meal every Thanksgiving” (lines 103-106).

Though Pete was stuffed, he feigned hunger and began attacking the Thanksgiving Dinner. 

Our valiant hero fought his way through turkey, chops, soups, vegetables, and pies. Every time he felt discouraged and ready to give up the battle, he looked at the Old Gentleman. He saw the look of happiness in the Old Gentleman’s face, and it gave  him the courage to go on. Stuffy did not have the heart to see the Old Gentleman’s happiness wane. In an hour Stuffy leaned back with the battle won (lines 110-114).

As soon as the Old Gentleman paid the bill of $1.30 and left three dimes for the waiter, the gentlemen went in opposite directions. I’ll stop there so my readers can discover, or rediscover, how it ends. The surprise O. Henry-esque twist follows naturally from his purposeful writing.

So, what is the connection between God's purposefulness and ours? The assertion, “with God nothing is accidental,” is applicable to us because we were created in God’s image. Our purposefulness flows from God's. 

J. R. R. Tolkien coined the word “sub-creators” to describe our artistic activity as coming from God. He and his friend, C. S. Lewis, referred to their fiction as mythopoeic literature—the making of myths. That’s because the word poem comes from the Greek word ποίημα (poiēma), which means something that is made or done, a workmanship, a creation. 

Accordingly, St. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that we are God’s ποίημα, his poem, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10) Since we know that Christ Jesus is the word made flesh (Jn. 1:1-5, 14), we believe that his writing, his history-making, is creative writing (Col. 1:15-20). 

Many passages in Sacred Scripture reveal that God creatively shapes our lives. As the author of Proverbs notes, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps (16:9); and “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (19:21). The prophet Jeremiah acknowledges this in one of his prayers: “Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.” (10:23).

No doubt my readers have thought about how our free will affects God’s purposes. The amazing and wondrous truth, the mystery and the paradox, is that God takes what we do, even our sin, and turns it into that which fits with his plan. 

A prime example is Joseph’s story chronicled in the final chapters of Genesis. Joseph’s jealous brothers sold him to a group of Ishmaelite merchants, who, in turn, sold him to an Egyptian official named Potiphar. When Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of sexual assault, he landed in prison. Throughout Joseph’s long ordeal the LORD was with him. As a result, when Joseph accurately interpreted a series of dreams, he became Prime Minister of Egypt. In that position he collected food during years of abundance so that it could be distributed during years of famine. 

When his brothers came to Egypt looking for food, Joseph concealed his identity, testing them to see if they had become more compassionate. Satisfied that his brothers had matured, Joseph revealed his identity. But after their father died, the brothers feared retribution for all the wrongs they had done to Joseph. Yet Joseph replied, 

“Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them (Gen. 50:19-21).

So as we read, or write, beautifully crafted stories—short or long—in which nothing seems accidental, we can be reminded that the story is a reflection of God’s purposefulness in shaping the events of our world and of our lives. And we can keep in mind that with God nothing is accidental.

The quotations are from Judith Kay and Rosemary Gelshenen, Discovering Fiction: A Reader of North American Short Stories, 2nd Edition. © Cambridge University Press, 2013, 73-76. The Acknowledgments page (p. 214) indicates that this version of “Two Thanksgiving Gentlemen” is an adaptation from “Two Thanksgiving Gentlemen” in The Complete Works of O. Henry published by Garden City Books, a division of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

© Stan Bohall 

January 10, 2022