Roll the Dice

Game of Chance

“If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want.”

                                                      Oscar Wilde

A friend of mine is intent on winning the lottery jackpot. She has plans for the money—knows exactly how much she will save and how she will spend the rest. She will retire from her job and have a preserve for old animals. Every week she buys $10.00 worth of lottery tickets and waits impatiently for the numbers to be called. She has been buying tickets for at least seven years, and as yet has not won anything much less the big prize. That's three hundred sixty-four weeks—or $3,640.00. Even invested at today's low interest rates, she'd have a nice little chunk of change to take a trip or invest in land, whatever else she'd like to do. Curious, don't you think?

We don't always get what we want, and that's a sign of God's grace. If I'd gotten everything I thought I wanted, I'd probably be a...a..., well it wouldn't be pretty, I can tell you that. On the other hand, we don't always get the worst of what we might either, thank God. I've never had a broken arm, for instance—or a broken anything except a broken heart. I've never had malaria or dengue fever or leprosy. I've never been mugged or robbed at gun point. Sometimes, we don't even get what we deserve—good or bad.

Life is a game of chance. We just have to do what we can to stack the cards in our favor and then roll the dice. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and most of the time, you fold. It usually pays to use your head. My friend has about a one-in-ten-million-chance of winning the lottery jackpot, but over a lifetime, ten-bucks a week can add up to half-a-million in the bank account. That's pretty lucky if you ask me.

                                                       In the spirit,

                                                          Jane