I’d like a holiday. And to win Gold Lotto. And to work only because I want to, not because I have to. A second property would be nice, as would travelling with my family and seeing what the world has to offer. I’d like… well, when it comes down to it, I’d like a lot of stuff without having to work too hard for it. Lazy, huh! And I wonder if I’m the only one out there who feels this way?
I know, however, that life wouldn’t be good like that. Even though I’d like to think that ‘I just need this to happen, then all my worries will be over and I’ll be on Easy Street’ – I kinda know, in the back on my mind, that it’s just a pipe dream. That with every set of circumstances comes its own unique set of problems, challenges, issues, whatever you want to call it. Like wanting to exist on cheesecake and chocolate. It’d be absolutely beautiful – for a while! – but there’s no way that we can get out of the inevitable consequences on our waistlines and our health!
So, I guess, I need to suck it up and just live the life that I’m living. With work. With exhaustion from lack of sleep. With the daily struggle – because I know that the daily struggle makes me the person that I am. And I *do* actually like this person. Most of the time! It’s the journey that counts. Isn’t that what they always say? Even though the journey is the hard slog bit, it’s the trudging forward and forward that confirms our character. With all that money, living on ‘Easy Street’, I wouldn’t be able to look at my life with pride. Actually, I’d probably feel guilty because I could see all those people – hundreds of millions around the world – who have nothing compared to me, and who knows but I might share what I have with them until I’m right back where I started! I’d like to think that I would anyway. I know that laziness isn’t good for me. I need to work. I need to struggle. If nothing else, then for my own self-respect.
In the next chapter of 1 Samuel, we’ve fast forwarded a few decades. Samuel, the Israelites’ spiritual leader, is now old, and although he’d like to hand over the reigns to his sons, they’re corrupt and so the people want Samuel to choose a King to lead them. Samuel is horrified, and tries to convince them otherwise, but they insist. How often do we do that? Insist on one particular course of action even though we have been told by wise advisers that it’d be a stupid thing to do?
Listen to advice. I guess that’s the moral of the story today. Don’t just assume that what we want is what’s best for us. Like a Gold Lotto win, or living entirely on cheesecake, what we want is NOT what’s best for us. So I’m going to look at today with a ‘this is what’s best for me’ mindset, I think! And, when it all comes down to it, that’s okay. I kinda really like my life.
Here’s wishing you an awesome day today, dear reader 🙂
— Ceridwyn