Plans B, C, D . . .

Han had an insight the other day. 

In the Megillah, Mordechai tells Esther that she must try to save her people. He says that if she does nothing, the salvation will come from another source, but she must still try.

If you look at the Megillah, Han said, you don't see a Plan B, but according to Mordechai, there were other ways we could have been saved. 

It was like when we were dating, he said. When you are in it, you don't see the Plans. You don't see where it will come from. But they are there. 

I concurred it was true. For all my efforts, my visiting shadchanim, I didn't expect my aunt's friend who I barely knew to be the one to set us up. I didn't expect her to be a fierce advocate on by behalf, staying on top of the shidduch until it came through.  

The Megillah took place in a time of galus, past the time of supernatural miracles. But it is no less miraculous because it took place through a string of "convenient" coincidences. This is how Hashem speaks to us now. 

Esther did not get the shidduch of her dreams. She was taken from all she knew, the home she loved. Her child was raised Persian. But she was the savior of her people, and her name is praised for eternity. 

We can spend so much time looking in one direction, expecting only one way of doing things, when Hashem may say, "No. I have other plans for you." They are there, humming away in the background, whether we see them or not.