“Those who believe in Me will live even if they die." ~ John
11:25
“Daddy, will you read me a story?”
she asked in a voice that defied rebuff.
The nightly ritual added ten minutes to the end of his day,
when patience was low and exhaustion high.
But that’s 10 more minutes Jack felt lucky enough to spend with dear
Ellie ... listening, encouraging, telling her the unspoken words that convey: “Today, right now, you are the most
important thing in the world to me.”
Jack propped himself up on the bed reading a fairy tale to the
sweetest child he’d ever laid eyes on.
Ellie, his 3 year old daughter, gazed up at him with adoring eyes; fixed
on every word.
Jack finished with those famous words: "And they lived
happily ever after."
Her eyelids fluttered before slipping shut. Ellie’s breaths were even and calming; the
expression on her face so vulnerable and childlike. An unexpected warmth rushed through him. He never wanted it to end.
As he set the book aside, it occurred to Jack that the
ending of the book was exactly what he sought for his innocent child. He wanted her to "live happily ever
after."
Was that too good to be true. Happily ever after?
As adults we’ve outgrown fairytales. We live in the real world.
Ellie’s already in a playgroup where’s she’s been called
names. Fat, ugly, stupid . . . though
she was none of those. The real world,
she would soon discover, was no fairytale.
There will be times when her heart will be broken. There will be times when she cries in grief
and he can’t comfort her. There will be
times when all she feels is fear, sadness, and loneliness.
He stroked her silken hair, smiling wistfully and hoping
that those times would be brief and that she’d have more joy in her life than
not. As her Dad, her exemplar, her
spiritual mentor, it was his job to teach her that "happiness” doesn’t
depend on how life treats you. Happiness
is something you create in your life - choice by choice; day by day.
And, if he’s completely honest with himself, Jack still
believes in fairytales.
Happiness comes when your love is not a slave to
circumstances. Love brings us joy and
connects us to God. It’s love that mends
broken hearts. It’s love that heals
grief. Its love that defeats fear, allays
sorrow, and soothes isolation.
Choose to love today then! Choose to "live happily ever after, one
day at a time.
Dear Father, thank You for sending us Jesus. Thank You that He didn’t just look down … He
came down. Our Rescuer. Our Prince.
Our Hero. All of our dreams come
true! So that we can live happily forever after. Amen
