A man on a horse was galloping along the road. An old farmer standing in his field called out, 'Hey, William, where are you going?' The rider shouted back, 'Don't ask me, ask my horse!'

Reactive people are passively carried along by events; proactive people engineer the events.

The management experts call it 'in-basket time management' attending to what comes onto one's desk rather than working towards clear goals.

And yet, life can be too specific and planned, rather than serendipitous. A busy man chided a flower: 'What for God's sake are you doing here? Can't you get busy someway?' The flower's response: 'I am sorry sir, I am here just to be beautiful.'

Every day we ought to do something unplanned, spontaneous. But if you fill your days with serendipity you are likely to aim nowhere in the long run (and hit the mark).

May I be both purposeful and poetic; goal-oriented and playful; useful and decorative; specific in the use of my time and also serendipitous. Amen.