I admit I have an occasional fantasy about winning the lottery. What about you?
If you won the Big One, where would you go and what would you buy? Setting aside the sticky question about tithing on gambling winnings, would you donate every dime to charity, or lounge on silken beaches and snore your life away in lazy hammocks?
In December, 2010, an Arizona retired teacher won the $95.3 million Powerball Jackpot. If she takes the cash, she’ll net about 33 million after taxes. I wish her well. If anybody is going to win the lottery, I pray it is a teacher.
I don’t play the lottery. If I played, I’d be broke. If I won, I’d be needy.
Greed creates artificial need. Since I have a tendency to be greedy, I don’t need needy.
The anticipation gap
Often, the greatest source of our disappointments is the gap between anticipation and reality.
While stuck at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, my wife and I observed this anticipation gap firsthand.
Arriving Las Vegas passengers walked with an energetic quick-step. We overheard many of them buzzing about casino jackpots. They were giddy with sugar-plum dreams.
By contrast, we observed several departing passengers shuffling to their flights, worn out and angry, complaining about casino ripoffs and empty wallets.
Obviously, not every arriving passenger headed for the casinos, and not every departing passenger was a casino victim. However, based on our observations, it isn’t a stretch to realize that some of the gamblers had stumbled over the fault lines between anticipation and reality.
Reaching for our dreams is good, but not while clutching the grime of greed.
Controlling want vs. need
The allure of wants can be a powerful thing. Living within our means and separating need from want takes self-control and determination. One might ask: Do I really need that new dress, that fancier car or that shiny bauble on the Buy Everything channel?
Self-control allows us to distinguish want from need. That kind of discipline is a hallmark of the life Jesus led. Perfectly selfless, the Master first mastered Himself.
President James E. Faust said, “The disciples of Christ receive a call to not only forsake the pursuit of worldly things but to carry the cross daily. To carry the cross means to follow His commandments and to build up His church on the earth. It also means self-mastery.” (James E. Faust, “Discipleship,” Ensign, November, 2006).
Mastering ourselves
Leisure time and activities are an important part of what makes life joyful and interesting. But certain escapes can cause spiritual damage. When want outstrips need, it gains inertia. Slowing that inertia is like trying to stop the proverbial runaway train. Its momentum can be daunting and its speed addictive.
No wonder casinos and the Lottery continue to attract victims in a recession. They feed on greed’s voracious appetite.
Like the arriving Las Vegas passengers, we sometimes race to the something-for-nothing escape, only to get trapped in a revolving door that always spins us back to self-confrontation.
We must eventually face ourselves and God. When we do, we may discover that self-mastery is the discipline that makes greed’s consequences unnecessary.
Lasting joy
During recent court business, I saw newlyweds smiling as they raised their hands to take the marriage oath. Four floors above them and several years removed, divorcing couples crowded the elevators, many contorted with anger as they berated their former spouses.
Perhaps the courthouse newlyweds and the casino hopefuls were on a similar quest for joy. For the divorcing couples, joy had turned sour, and like the departing casino victims, a few fell prey to the empty promise of success without sacrifice.
The Prophet Isaiah saw the kind of vanishing joy witnessed at the courthouse and in Las Vegas. He declared, “They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil” (Isaiah 9:3).
In all seasons of life the harvest requires planting and effort. Unlike the spent wishes for wealth without work, lasting joy distills upon our souls as we love God and serve our fellow man.
Whenever I confuse real joy with escape, I remind myself that nothing worth having is free.
I am grateful to live a lottery-free life. If I don’t play, I don’t “win.” Besides, silken beaches can be mosquito magnets, and swinging hammocks are impossible to dismount.
Behind the flashing lottery lights at the end of the casino rainbow, lies a pot of greed filled with the scalding soup of selfishness. And that is no jackpot.
