Something happens when we don’t get what we want … we become disappointed. Disappointment leads to a wide range of other emotions: bitterness, anger, jealousy, depression … and pity. We start to feel sorry for ourselves, and eventually we’re not good enough while our lives aren’t worth living. The key to happiness suddenly becomes “if I only got what I want …”

This one girl is really close to me, and the other day she said, “If only pigs could fly! Well, they can’t! And you know what? I’m doing pretty darn good without it!” It had me thinking that she might have something more going on than what she thought. The last line is what jumped at me, “I’m doing pretty darn good without it.”

It reminded me of Adam and Eve. Here they were, in this wonderful place God had created for them, with all these good trees of sweet food, living the grand life. But there was that one tree they couldn’t, and Eve wanted it. In the end, it killed her. She was “doing pretty darn good without it”, wasn’t she?

And I believe we can, too. Some of the things we think we need are essentially just the things we want. Is it wrong to have desires? No. I don’t believe so. But when you allow those desires to run rampant and take God’s place in your heart, you’re stepping over the line. God gives us what we need to be fulfilled in life. It’s our decision whether or not to draw our focus towards that or on things that could eventually destroy us.

And if we can learn to breathe, and laugh, and dance in life, I think we’ll find that we’re doing pretty darn good without all that other stuff.