I am currently reading two books: “Book of Shadows” by James Reese and “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage” by Alice Munro.
I always have several in the backpack.
The count was three as of earlier this evening before I finished
“When God Winks
(actually, wicked belated 
).
WGW is a book that explores the deeper meaning of coincidence in our lives.
God Wink ; a personal signal or message, directly from a higher power, usually, but not always, in the form of a coincidence
My sister bought it for me simply because she and I are intensely familiar with God Winks.
There’s this.
Or this.
Or this.
The book goes on to explain that these instances of coincidence (or serendipity, if you like that better) are signposts from the heavens that we’re on the right track; cosmic signals that we are not alone.
I’ve had many “winks” in my lifetime.
A few years after I began writing, I entered a contest at Writer’s Digest.
Ten people could win $100 in WD writing books and a year’s subscription to Writer’s Market, a WD site that helps find a home for that oh, so lonely priceless manuscript.
Months passed and I forgot all about the contest BUT I was still writing.
I remember sitting at the computer one day and staring at the damned blinking cursor thinking, “What the hell am I doing? I can’t write. This is stupid.”
Feeling disgusted and totally unoriginal, I closed Word and checked my email.
Spam.
Spam.
Spam.
Word of the Day.
Spam.
Writer’s Digest.
Writer’s Digest?
Hmmm.
I opened the email and started yelling.
I won.
Ask my wife. I NEVER WIN ANYTHING. Truth.
A wink to be sure.
And hey, I’m still writing, right?
Now I pass the pen to you guys. I love coincidence and I love winks.
Tell me about one.
Come on, now. You have at least one if you really think about it.
I know for a fact that Kelly and Maureen have had a few.
Hell, Annie, too.
How about it guys?
One wink for the gipper? (I’m trying to say that with an Aussie accent)
~m
Ps. Sis, the book was bloody brilliant. I could have written it myself . . .
purefnevyl
March 27, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Serendipity is a great stripper name but seriously there has been many cases of serendipity in my life. I do not know if they come from a higher power but they are damned handy when they pop up.
Ali
March 28, 2008 at 1:47 am
Serendipity was also a great movie. M your post was a God Wink (among many I have had) to me. Do you really think someone as cool as God wouldn’t use the internet to catch our eye…The more I read in your blog, the more I am convinced of your kind and giving soul. Beautiful reminder. Going to check out the book as well. Alison
anonymum
March 28, 2008 at 3:17 am
Not too sure where to start a comment on this..can’t put the words that count in or it will be a post on it’s own, so I’ll do them individually, and you’ll know exactly what i mean
Blogexplosion
Banners
Daughters
Mothers
Phones
Birthdays
Candles
Belief
All the above can be summed up in 1 word…fate…
Words that say the most?
Baby steps…..
Cryptic? I don’t think so…
ozymandiaz
March 28, 2008 at 10:42 am
perhaps I’m not on the right track
Matty
March 28, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I’m going to check out those books…sounds like something I would enjoy.
Right now God is winking at me……and I’m winking back. Finally..they have found a bone marrow donor for my grandson. HE never lets me down.
Red
March 28, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I’m with MrOzzzzy here.
I got nothin’ .
Christine
March 28, 2008 at 5:27 pm
We get Godwinks when we need them most. Daddy just got one a week after a very depressing weekend where he felt he wasn’t providing for me and the children like he (foolishly) believed he should. He was quite upset and seven days later, he was offered a job by an old friend at almost double his current salary! I always tell him that God only gives you what you can handle, that weekend was cutting it close, but he got over it and was rewarded for his faith.
carnealian
March 28, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Oh I totally agree about the God winks. I think we just have to be “in tune” enough to realize they are there. When I got fired from a job just a few short years ago, I was devastated to say the least. What the hell am I going to do? So, I went back to school full time, got my degree, found a job that sustains me and here I am. I’m on to my Masters and am eternally thankful for getting fired. Rock on Mikey!!!
writerchick
March 28, 2008 at 7:41 pm
WVU
Blogosphere
A phonecall out of the blue today
A fourth agent request.
That’s all I got for now.
A
~m
March 28, 2008 at 10:41 pm
And no one clicked on the damn picture for the post.
Amazing. Gobsmacked.
GodWink
~m
anonymum
March 28, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Cannot tell a lie, I didn’t even scroll over it {the pic that is} so I didn’t know it WAS a link…have since rectified that little issue…and have just this minute clicked the link for the book…nah nah nah nah nah!
and btw {don’t mean to be rude} but gipper??? enlighten me
even when i know you’ll probably still sound like a pom though!
anonymum
March 28, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Englishman!
checking the link as soon as i hit submit…thank you
anonymum
March 28, 2008 at 11:20 pm
AHA! now I understand! Thank you
Lumpy
March 29, 2008 at 2:00 am
I’m always saying, “God watches out for me!” because there were so many times when my life could have turned out “not so great”. I look back on all of those instances and am so grateful. I never thought of them as a *wink* before but I will now. One tiny little for instance: I had dated my highschool sweetheart for nearly 4 years. After highschool, we moved into a tiny apartment. I was in love, blah blah blah- but he was controlling and didn’t want to share me, with anyone. We parted ways and I moved on. It was hard, he was all I knew. I met my husband and he encourages me to explore my hobbies and interests…. What would I be like now had I stayed w/ the highschool boy? What if I had gotten pregnant back then? OMG, I would be tied to him forever. I just think God has always looked out for me. Is this kinda what ‘cha mean? I married someone who loves me just as much I love him – I’m so grateful! Like I said, this is only one little for instance, I have many more! I’m grateful for the winks – I’ll take all I can get!
Deborah Woehr
March 29, 2008 at 9:33 am
First, congrats on winning that contest! That is too cool. :8
I’m no stranger to serendipity. I’ll be thinking about a particular person for several days before they’ll either call me or send me an email. Happens all the time.
Linda
March 30, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Back when the earth’s crust was still cooling, the Mister sent a story to that contest. In the fullness of time, an Encyclopedia arrived on our doorstep; it was the first prize. One of the judges worked for Atlantic Monthly (OK, I SAID this was a while back). The Mister sent his short story to her. Again, in the fullness of time, he received a letter from her. “Just because your little story won a contest,” she wrote, “does not mean that it is fit for OUR publication.” Maybe this is more of a God joke than a God wink. But it amused us either way.
mrsvierkant
March 31, 2008 at 9:26 am
I think I should put this book on my to read list. Love reading your blog, BTW.
spasmicallyperfect
April 01, 2008 at 8:48 am
I have many. In fact I think I have them daily. It’s what happens when you become aware of them.
Three big ones that stand out right now:
- the ‘coincidence’ around how I met my husband
- being clipped by a truck and spinning across 5 lanes of busy highway traffic and ‘landing’ neatly parked by the center guard rail. Then watching all those cars speed by thinking ‘how on earth did I get all across all those lanes without being t-boned / dead?’
- the times I’ve felt the most desperate the phone rang and someone who seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth reached out to me.
oh – and
‘disturbingly beautiful’.
Grimm
April 02, 2008 at 12:40 am
Sorry I am late on this one. I can consider one of the reasons I reasons I started reading you was because of this very thing.
I been thinking about my mother for some time and about visiting her grave around the same exact time you wrote a fantastic post about your mother and the feelings you have for her.
That right there made me a lifetime reader.
Of course, it is little things that maybe you don’t notice until later that seem to hit the hardest.
Case in point: Back in college, I am leaving for work and as I am heading for the car – for some reason I could not hold onto the car keys as I dropped them a total of about 5 times. It was something simple and put me another few minutes behind.
On my way to work, I missed a horrible accident in which a dump truck ran a stop sign and hit a car broadside. The accident happened just a few minutes before I would have normally been at the intersection.
Sorry for the length. But reading about this opened up so many instances, just wanted to share. Great job.