The Lottery

Some days...do you not just wish you could just wake up (when you want to), not clean anything (because you have a staff for that) and take your limitless Visa card with you and go out to play (because you have more money than you could ever spend)? Oh! Don't we all want to just have one day like this? Or a month?

What would you do if you won the lottery? Would you quit your job? Hire a cook? Move? I used to think about this from time to time...before I realized that the likelihood of this happening is about the same as me being named Miss America or winning the Tour de France.

I think the only part of this that I would truly embrace is that worrying about jobs and bills and maintenance would be rendered impotent. Having very little to worry about would totally rock. I know that it says in Philippians 4:6 that we are not to worry about anything. But you know...I'm human and sometimes I slip. I now view Fridays with suspicion instead of with glee after watching people be released from service on Fridays. I breathe a sigh of relief every payday as I ratchet two weeks closer to my childrens' tuition being ultimately paid. I've figured out that if I survive another year on the job, then the worst case scenario? Student loans. That is just incredibly sad.

I'm young (relatively speaking)! I shouldn't be worried about keeping the status quo when my faith tells me that anything that is removed from my life is to make room for something better...or to bring me closer to God. I should be making plans and thinking positively, and believing that life is grand. Because it is.

But if I was independently wealthy...I think of all of the nice things I would like to do for other people...finish redecorating the chapter room at Troy, pay all of the debts of my immediate family, support some favorite ministries and charities and even get a new car. But then I realize how much I'm blessed.

I think what is wrong with a lot of people is that they have had things made a little too easy for them. While it would be great to "bless" my children with all that their hearts desire, it is not in their best interest. So it is with God. He does not want to cut his butterfly out of the cocoon...forever stunting its ability to fly.

Sometimes, we are given struggles to allow us to build spiritual muscle. We are given trials so that we will finally quit living in our own strength. We find ourselves in situations where we have to overcome impossible odds...because in doing so we deepen our faith. We just don't like it when we are in the middle of this particular process.

So, tomorrow morning, I will roll out of bed and go to work. I'll grumble, and I'll wish to be Paris Hilton for about fifteen minutes, and then I'll go to my kitchen. My husband and son will be there...along with coffee (thankfully) and enough food to get me through the day. My daughter is getting a college education at the school of her choice. Everyone is healthy. I'll then get into my old Honda Accord and will leave the house that Big Dave and I designed on a napkin in 2001. My sweet dogs will follow me outside to see me off. The sun may be rising over the pond...or there may be birds in my backyard. I'll pass the horses in the big field on the left and the cows on the right. I'll pass other people who are headed to their jobs. Jobs that either make things or offer services that we barely notice as we go about our lives.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I do know that I am tired of wishing for life to get better. I'm tired of waiting for a cosmic signal that everything is okay...and it is time to breathe easy and relax. That day is coming...but it isn't going to happen on this sphere. And that's really okay with me. Because on that day...I will win something that makes the lottery seem like pocket change...and it will be something that noone can ever take away from me. And that is enough to keep me moving forward. Later!