True Happiness

I walk in the streets of Baltimore towards the slum of my apartment and look at others better off than me. Why did God give me this life? I wish I were like doctors or lawyers. I wish I could buy diamonds and Pearls like the rich. I desire companionship but who would merry oh, lonesome me?

I make my way home with my head down and frown. Five days a week it’s the same thing: get up at 7 am, get dressed in my cheap suite, drive to my dead-end job and file taxes for seven hours.

Today is my day off. I had just gone ‘fishin again in the nearby lake. It is the only thing that cheered me up. I make my way up the dirty stone steps to the door of my complex. I collapse on my couch and complain. Oh, God, why can’t I have had a better life! I close my eyes to rest and fall asleep.

In a dream, I see a shining man with wings. He spoke. “I am the angel Trophimus. God has heard your plea and you will experience the life of riches.”

My eyes open and I’m in a large room with decedent paintings and a chandelier hanging from above! It happened! I jump out of my wide bed and went to a closet with a fancy suite. I dress and walk out of a door through another room and enter another door leading to a garage with a corvette. A key hung on the wall next to me and I take it and then drive outside and onto the street. In the middle compartment, a debit card lay there.

Now this was living! I pressed a button on the dashboard and the top slides open. A smile beams on my face. I see a jewelry store to my right and turn in to park in front of it. I grab the card and inside I find a glass case with expensive watches. I purchase the costliest, diamond studded, golden Rolex and leave.

Where should I go? I’ll visit my old job and gloat before my former supervisor! I thought.

I quickly arrive there and barge in and knock on my boss’s door and he comes out. “Kevin? Is that you?”

A talk with a coy smile. “That’s right Marvin! You can take your job and stuff it!”

I spin and walk off cackling. Back in my car, I decide to go to my fishing lake. In ten minutes, I go to the edge of the lake and sit down. My lungs take in a deep breath. I look across its shimmering waters and a feel something foreboding. I was at a loss. I felt emptiness. But why? I dismiss the notion and get back into my car and I felt like visiting the museum.

Along the way I pass a small chapel. Something in my heart tugged, like I was missing an important thing. After arriving at the Baltimore Museum. I browsed through several paintings and I ask the curator if I could buy one I found appealing.

The piece was $10.000. After putting it in the back of my Corvette, I backtracked my trail to my lavish house. When I got home, it was hung in my large living room. I sat on a red leather couch and breathed in my wealth. Then there was that emptiness from when I went passed the chapel. Why was there a lack of peace? I had all I wanted. Again, I pushed away the thought and turned on my eighty-inch tv.

While watching the news about the poverty problem in America, a feeling arose in my heart-pain. Inside there was a longing for the problem. It was like nothing else my riches brought me. My heart ached for more, but for what! I had everything.

“I’ll just sleep this off,” I said out loud. I returned to my room, got into my sheik azure pajamas and fell asleep on my bed. The sun’s rays coming through a window to my right awoke me. I got up and decided to go to the fanciest breakfast joint in town. After getting dressed it was a quick trip to the restaurant.

Inside the joint I sat at a polished wooden table and picked up a menu on it. A the lavish life! I thought. After a $50 breakfast plate and some orange juice, it was the perfect place to reflect. My mind entertained thoughts of the riches bestowed upon me. Again, that feeling arose. But it was deeper, more ingrained. No longer was there any denying it; I was unhappy.

God, why am I so empty?

A bitterness followed me on the way out of the restaurant. I sat in my car to head home. On the way home my car passed by that same small chapel. My heart burned within me, compelling my resolve to go in the church.

After parking, that strong attraction to go in led me inside. Within, a priest knelt at an altar. I sprinted to him, with urgency to talk with the man.

“May I speak with you?” I asked, not knowing where my words came from.

“Of, course,” said the man.

Tears came from my eyes. “I feel so empty and there is something inside me that has driven me here.”

“That is the Holy Spirit son. By your appearance, you have it all. Riches cannot fill that God-sized hole in your life.”

“What can I do?” I asked.

“Repent and commit yourself to God and His Son.”

“Will I have peace?”

“Peace, overflowing,” the priest answered.

The priest led me in a commitment prayer to God, excepting His son as well.

My heart swelled with joy. In the blink of an eye, I was back in my old couch. It was a dream. But I didn’t care about the wealth. Peace and true joy filled me.