The first job I ever had was as at a convenience store, earning $5.15 an hour to mop up, stock the shelves, ring up purchases, and make sandwiches for loyal customers. I also sold countless lottery tickets to people who were hoping to hit the multi-million dollar jackpot and “take it easy” from there on out. I never thought that any of them expected to win; the odds of reality were too heavily stacked against them. Surviving, as well as acquiring the comforts they desired, required them to work consistently and work hard to earn a steady paycheck. Only a fool would place all of his or her trust on the lottery; to do so would be to guarantee a miserable, impoverished existence.
Unfortunately, some expect to hit the jackpot with love and marriage, only to feel cheated when the demands of reality require their labors. Anything worth having is worth laboring for; indeed, the effort is often a large part of the satisfaction. This is true of career advancement. It is true of academic achievement. Success in athletics, the arts, fitness, business…all require effort. The law of the harvest (“You reap what you sow”) is a reality of life. Why should marriage be any different? Yet for some reason, against our own logic, we all too often fall prey to the “Happily Ever After” mentality, which tells us that there is someone out there who will meet our every expectation while bringing us happiness and completion; the romantic idea being that such a relationship will be all but effortless and the happiness will flow naturally and constantly. And so we bide our time waiting in vain for our numbers to line up, when in reality the real trick is to find satisfaction and happiness from our labors, and the consistent yield they can bring.
At the Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative, our key purpose is to help couples in this state learn to relish the effort and experience the rewards that come from knowing how to work together for a fruitful and loving relationship. It’s also about conveying this message to youth and single adults. To that end, we provide free relationship enrichment courses throughout the state, aimed at helping make bad relationships good and good relationships better. Think of it as career training: we provide the tools you need to succeed. While you may not get to “take it easy,” the work does get lighter as you grow more proficient at it, and the dividends are great. I invite you to attend our seminars. Unlike with the lotto, we aim to make as many people as possible very rich indeed.
Jonathan Decker, ACMI GRA.
Tags: Jackpot, Lottery, Lotto, marriage, Relationships, Work
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