Less Tragic

I'm tired of reality TV.

Actually, I'm tired of reality in general, muscling me around like a stubborn, cynical hardass, telling me to get over it because "that's just how it is"...

Telling me not to worry about it because it's not my problem...

Telling me to live and let live and insisting that everything is relative and everything is gray and all roads lead to Rome or space or nothingness.

That is bullshit.

I'm tired of the movies that end like real life.

I mean, I'm not always tired of them, but in this moment I am.

I don't want the good guys to die. I don't want the babies to die. I don't want people to find redemption and then die before something amazing happens. I don't want the bad guys to leave with the money and I don't want the random hot girl to get picked over the faithful best friend. I want the guy to chase the girl until she says yes. I want the couples to look for new reasons to love each other every day. I want the wives to have sex with their husbands and not their pool boys. I want the husbands to have sex with their wives and not their boyfriends. I want the teenagers to stop having sex with each other. I want the mommies and daddies to stay together and the children to grow up confident, loving and generous. I want the daddies to admit when they were wrong and the mommies to let go when they're supposed to. I want the church to stop being a tepid, elitist, whore in the eyes of unbelievers. I want the addicts to own up to their issues and ask for help. I want the burnouts to start over and the dreamers to take action. I want the apathetics to stop being bored and find something worth burning about. I want the skeptics to embrace hope and the cynics to fall in love. I want the music to mean something. I want it all to matter. So much.

Because it does.

I'm not wishing for or expecting a perennial Utopia.

But would it kill us to have a happy ending or two? Hundred? Million?

Would it kill us to be a little more diligent in fostering the growth of happy endings?

Would it kill us to stop being so selfish?

Would it kill us to acknowledge the bigger picture—and our raging, innate longing to be part of it?

When did we stop wanting to be in it?!

I don't understand. I don't understand when the brainwash began.

I want to be in it.

Oh, do I ever.

There is joy.
There is purpose.
There is adventure.
There is understanding.
There is total acceptance.
There is a reason to get out of bed every day.

But none without You-- my dear, wild and mighty Father.
Help me. Help me to live this life like its Christmas morning, instead of Black Friday at Wal-Mart.