Wishing

How I wish...

what?

There is the popular old story of the genie. It stirs the hearts of everyone apparently to wonder what it would be like to have three wishes fulfilled. What would you choose if anything and everything was on the table except you could not make someone be in love with you?

The genie story was formed so very long ago, yet still is retold and known widely. What does the persistent retelling have to say about human nature?

Um...

In this instance the question is far more fascinating then a dull, limited answer. It is that we as humans are attached emotionally to desires we cannot seem to fulfill. While everyone is an unique individual, we all have this same emotional need to dream of things we cannot have.

So the genie overrides reality and provides the opportunity where anything is not only possible but will happen if you simply ask.

The limiting to three wishes is a stroke of artistic genius. This limit means that so much else I also wish for has to be eliminated. Paring the list down to three is impossible. It is impossible to predict what my words will bring into being. There is an ever present sense that I am forgetting something. There is the instinctive feeling that once I finish, I will wish I had made different choices.

It is just a game that we enjoy playing.

In the midst of all this passionate longing, why do we never seem to choose the status quo?

That is my question.

I hope that is what I would choose.

God has written my life story. I trust He has done it perfectly. I am very sure that I could not have done it better. In fact, I am convinced I would have done a horrible job.

So I should know better than to wish. If I had the ability to control reality, I would create disaster, darkness and chaos. My best intentions would bring about destructive results. Its true. In theory I know that is the way it would be.

Yet. I can kick and complain with the best of us. I want things my way too, all the time. My wish list is fifty odd years long and growing every day. It is not something I can simply stop doing. While my spirit can obtain knowledge and grow and know better than to trust myself, the broken, sinful animal in me wants what it wants. Both of these beings live within me. They wrestle incessantly.

It is not the good Bobby wrestling with the evil Bobby within, rather it is evil in me versus surrender to God's will. The good is not in me. Good is in Him and in Him alone. This is a hard concept for many to accept. In fact, most choose to believe something quite different than this truth. They would argue with Jesus who said, "Only God is good".

I hope I am not spoiling the game for you, wink. Trying to limit wishes to just three is entertaining and probably provides mental relief for many. It is not as if we shall ever get to make them reality. I, for one, do not really want them. The game is safe enough since it is not real, but personally I have always sucked at it. I worry about the down side of any wish I might choose. There is always the hidden, unseen cataclysm lurking behind the choice.

For example, if I did the noble thing and wished for world peace, I just know that would end up bringing untold suffering into the world.

If I did the selfish thing instead and wished for riches, I would bring untold suffering to myself.

Maybe that is the point of the game. To make us recognize our human limitations and vision. Maybe we all are attracted to the story of the genie because it reminds us that wishing is fine as long as it does not become reality. We sense that unlimited control would bring disaster. The relief is that while wishing cannot be contained, at least we do not have to live with the consequence of their fulfillment.


Meanwhile,

Love someone well today (at least try)

Bobby