Tonight, my husband and I watched a compelling episode of
Twilight Zone that really made me think of the consequences of our actions,
especially our wishes. Think about it, what would you wish for if you could
have anything….except for more wishes of course? Wouldn't
it be wonderful to
have literally anything you could imagine at the snap of your fingers? What if
you were facing bills or struggling with a rundown house or work was going
poorly? All this could suddenly change? What could we get that would bring
happiness?
Of course this is a theme that has gone throughout great literature, look at
the old Fisherman and his Wife, they were granted wishes from a magical fish or
Aladdin and the Lamp, even Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and there is a
story about a wife wishing for a week of Sundays which turned out terribly…and
many, many others I am sure you could think of.
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Well, I told my husband that we need to decide ahead of time
in case we ever have to face this life changing decision. Here are some
practical ones I thought of, I wish for unlimited free fuel for our vehicles.
We could travel long distances and not have to worry about stopping at the
station. I could see my family that live far away that I miss terribly. Next I
wish for college being paid off for our kid(s) if they choose to go. Of course,
there are a lot of negative consequences to wishing for anything financial,
like taxes, etc. Here are some fun ones! I wish for the rooms in the house to
be painted pretty and neat, I wish for me to stay in running shape, and always
be able to have adventures like hiking, rock climbing, mountain climbing, etc, I
wish for the house to be kept clean and for free dinners at our favorite
restaurant. Yum! I love Oriental Wok! Ok, time to come back from my dream world.
The big thing I learned from the show though was that you
have to learn contentment with where you are at and for what you have. The
couple wished for money and power but by the end they just wanted things to be
like they were. They wanted to just be together and were content with their
rundown shop. You see this on Harry Potter as well, the mirror would show you a
reflection of your most powerful wish and people would just sit gazing into it,
and the fabled sorcerer’s stone would only appear to the person who was not
intending to use it. Ok, I don’t know if that is a good example or not. However,
I think they are good stories. Harry is awesome. Ok, I digress…
So if the point of all the old stories and this show were to
have contentment with where you are at, I can’t help think but that is exactly
what a Christian needs to learn. I bet Paul would have liked these stories but
he wouldn’t have wished for anything. Paul said in Philippians, I know the
secret…I have learned contentment in all circumstances. His dearest wish in all
his letters were for the saints to grow in grace and knowledge and truth. It
seems like his personal requests always seemed like an afterthought after the
letter was written, like, “oh yeah, bring my jacket.”
Anyways, Jeremy and I are still talking about what we would
wish for. When we decide on the perfect four…we will let you know…Or you could
just check out his blog.
