The Story of Us

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who lived in an amazing garden ruled by a kindly, powerful king. He gave them all they wanted - food, a meaningful life, and every pleasure living in paradise, sort of like Club Med forever.

All he asked from them was obedience. This wasn’t because he was a cruel master, but because he knew that the man and woman, in spite of their pride in themselves, didn’t have a clue how to make a go of life without him. Knowing how to live without the king wasn’t a skill he’d built into them.

Then one tragic day a monster came along and told this couple a pack of lies. He made them believe that their master was a wicked enemy who wanted to keep them under his thumb, blind and stupid forever, never finding their true destiny. He told them that their master was a tyrant who wanted to make sure they never became as powerful as he was.

And so the man and the woman, lacking the basic skills to make a go of life themselves, decided to disobey the king. The defied their creator and got their wish. Well, sort of. Found out, and driven from the garden, they took up their independence in a hostile world hoping to make a go of life without the one who’d made them.

Did they live happily ever after? Not by a long shot. Their firstborn son killed their second born, unleashing a storm of trouble that would mess up their descendants to this very day. The king had been right all along, but it was too late to help those who had turned against him.

They went on their way sad and clumsy, always hurting one another and vainly hoping for a better life that never showed up.

THE END

You thought that fairy tales were supposed to finish, "and they lived happily ever after." This one doesn't, but then it isn't a fairy tale. It's the story of humanity, the story of us. Created for a perfect life in paradise, we make a bold show of having everything under control even though we’ve cut ourselves off from the one who made us. We chase after independence but find we don't know what to do with it when we have it.

I wonder why we so seldom recognize that the one thing we need is the One we've abandoned.