If it’s meant to be, will it be?

We’ve all been there.  We’re stressing about a life decision, emotional, feeling the pressure of the unknown, when someone chimes in with the wise words: “If it’s meant to be, it will be.”

The phrase’s intentions are good.  It’s meant to calm you, to reassure you that you don’t need to control everything.  Things will all work out in the end.

I don’t know about you, but those words make me feel anything but reassured.  In fact, they tend to frustrate me more.  It’s never seemed natural for me to sit back and wait to see how things unfold.

“If it’s meant to be, it will be” has a nice ring to it.  But what about “If you want it, work for it?”

They’re both platitudes that we’re told all the time, but they contradict each other.  When faced with a decision, I struggle to decide which belief I should subscribe to.  Which do you believe in?