Blog 3661 – 11.12.2025

“Happily Ever After”

Today’s title is the ending of many a fairy tale that most of us heard and hoped for as children, but somewhere along the way we allowed the “cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches” rob us of our hopes and dreams and cheat us out of our happy endings.

For a few moments I would like to examine the words of Jesus where he warned his disciples about allowing two harsh realities to steal their excitement, hope, and joy. First “the cares of this life,” it is so easy to find ourselves worrying about where our next meal is going to come from or clothing and shelter for ourselves and our families and yet did not Jesus remind us that the birds of the air trust their Heavenly parent to provide their daily bread and that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as beautifully as the lillies of the field who neither toiled nor labored. Jesus himself also said, “Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me, in My Father’s house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you.” It is so easy in this time/space jungle to lose sight of Who and Whose we are and to be overwhelmed by the cares of this life.

And then there is the deceitfulness of riches, the myth or illusion that if we just had a pile big enough we would be set for life and our children. Such silly thinking not only spoils it for us, but for others and our children as well. Jesus gave several examples. The “Barn Loser” comes to mind, the story of the prosperous farmer who decided to tear down his barn and build a bigger barn to hold his ever increasing harvests, but mid-way through the project, God said to him, “You fool, time’s up, now who’s will these things be.” Children who inherit everything usually do not appreciate it but either fritter it way or themselves fall victim to the myth of security in their ever growing pile.

Millionaires once and now billionaires try to justify their “right” to piles of wealth that more often than not derive from cheating the poor out of their rightful wages. Often at the ends of their wretched lives the thus wealthy in guilt for their extortions try to give it back and to appear to be great philanthropists when in reality “robber barons” is the correct term for them.

The deceitfulness of material riches has robbed many of the true riches that are freely ours as a part of our inheritance from the Universe for indeed everything is ours to enjoy. What we hold on to is never truly ours, only what we give away.

Well, there you have it, what I think Jesus words of warning were meant to convey – we are not here as orphans or castaways to sweat the small stuff nor are we here to wheel and deal trying to get and maintain an advantage over our brothers by making our pile so high that I we can lord it over everyone else.

We are here to enjoy this adventure in space and time and to be a joy to all we meet. Some years ago while on a work assignment in Virginia a young oil and gas engineer that I reported to you asked me, “David, you are always smiling, what is your secret?” I think he was expecting some religious or philosophical answer, but what I said only half joking shocked him a bit yet made him smile. I replied, “Well, you know, I do masturbate a lot.”

I believe that we have the power to create our own happy endings not just in the massage parlor meaning of “happy ending” but in the fairytale one “happily ever after.” And I for one can never get enough of happily ever after. Many of my Christian friends will be offended at my somewhat crude remark about happy endings above. They find most of their joy postponed looking forward to the next life while I am all about getting the most out of this one, and the next, and the next, and the next.

Your friend and fellow traveler in space and time,

David James White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O9TSiE35PKzupP8NjHY7QDRKHN4HWngE/view?usp=drivesdk

Never Enough