Whatever Happened to Happily-Ever-After?

Every day they would troop out before the bell rang. We dismiss the 4 years old  slightly earlier than the elder 5 and 6 years old. The little ones would be led out by their teacher to sit in the area just outside our office glass doors to await whoever was coming to fetch them home. I always love watching the small tots at their antics. At that time, all would be obediently sipping  from their water-bottles as instructed. Some obviously pretending only, as the water level never moved. Some very proud to wave their empty bottles at me. Bright eyes looking thru the glass door, so trustingly. There's one little girl with the biggest roundest eyes I've ever seen, whom I am pretty sure will set male hearts all a-flutter when she grows up. There's a boy who will always pucker up his face and act as if he's crying - very good acting too, although sometimes there are real tears flooding his cheeks; he's always missing mummy coz he goes to a day-care babysitter. And then there's the one who is ever ready to hi-5 me as I step out to bid them goodbye. Sweet smiles that greet me every morning. I admit I love 'my' 4 years old the most-est. To hear them sing all off-key as they try to follow their teacher in class. To see their cute faces light up at something that interests them. Even to see them 'act up' naughty when they don't want to obey instructions. In one word, they are just sooo adorable. Ahh, the beauty of innocence.

Fast forward to their future, and I wonder what tomorrow holds for them? What will happen to their hopes and dreams?  Instead of happily-ever-after fairy-tales, it could very well turn out nightmares of destruction. I have seen too many, heard too many stories of wretchedness. A mother confides that after some 15 years of marriage and 3 kids, the husband walked out because he can't stand the sight of her face. I manage to talk to the husband, and as always, there are always 2 versions to a story, 2 sides to a coin. By the way, it's not only the guys who walk out these days; one lady who did the walking-out says she's given up; how many times can she forgive the man who keeps breaking her heart, she asks? I tell her Jesus says 7x70; she can still laugh as she confesses she can't do it; she's only reached 20x, and she's reached her limit.  Another stares at me and point blank says that there never was any love in her marriage; she could have had any man she wanted, but she settled for  this one to please her mom; a relationship doomed to failure from the start. 

Once upon a time, these adults were kids. Innocent kids with bright eyes and cute smiles. Where did the innocence go? Once upon a time, they had dreams, visions, hopes. What happened? Is humankind consigned to accepting their 'fate' in life ala que sera sera? I venture to guess it's no different with so-called 'success' stories; some lives can look very successful on the outside, but who knows what sorrows are hidden behind the glossy veneer? Did you ever wonder how is it fairy-tales always end up in happily-ever-after? I venture there must be a deep yearning in the human spirit for life to be an eternal joy. Isn't it sad that the reality can be so far removed from the fairy-tale? The cynical would scorn, "Wake up, dreamer. Life isn't, can't be, a fairy-tale. Welcome to the real world."

But once upon a time, there really was meant to be a happily-ever-after story. Take it from Adam and Eve in Paradise. God created everything good and handed it all over to them. It was all very innocent, it was meant to be that way.  In fact it was so innocent the bible records 'Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.' (Genesis 2:25) Interestingly the word 'innocent' has a much wider implication than just 'harmless' as we tend to understand it. The dictionary defines innocent as free from moral, legal or specific wrong, pure, guiltless,without sin, not involving evil intent or motive. The first human couple had everything they could possibly need, and more - they were meant to live forever in innocence and in  perfect unity loving each other and loving their Creator God. Now that's one heck of a fairy-tale indeed.

The famous prolific author Hans Christian Andersen stated, "Every man's life is a fairy-tale written by God's fingers." That's literally true; God did mean every human life to be a fairy-tale. Only somewhere along the way, man lost the plot. The first marriage ended in the first quarrel and I guess it's been downhill since then, not only for our ancient ancestors Adam and Eve, but for the rest of us as well.  So it was that both Adam and Eve took it upon themselves to re-write their (and by extension, our) life story. The rest, as we say, is history. Tellingly the first thing Adam muttered when confronted by God was "I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid". Immediately God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" (Genesis 3:10-11) There it is, the first loss of innocence - feeling shame over nakedness. I wonder if perhaps all our preoccupation with the human body, sex and sexuality issues can be traced to that one particular moment in time when Adam lost his innocence with 1 bite into temptation-fruit.

More than innocence was lost that day in Paradise. Who would have thought a small bite at a little fruit could blow up to be such a big deal? In case some of us are still thinking how miserly God must be to begrudge us a little something to eat; actually it was never about the eating or the fruit. It wasn't the action per se; rather it was the heart's attitude that spelt rebellion. An attitude that said, "I don't believe God; in fact I don't need Him. I can do just what I want." With that, the fairy-tale got all twisted up in the labyrinth of sin's rebellion without any happily-ever-after ending in sight.  The first human family got evicted from their home with God, doomed to die in eternal separation from their erstwhile destiny. That's how it would have ended for all of us as well , if not for the hand of a  merciful God who took it upon Himself to write another chapter for man's life. Perhaps an apt title for this chapter would be "The Sequel : Jesus Christ"; who came to restore man's innocence, to empower man to overcome death and live out a new forever real fairy-tale again. But there is a catch  - we ourselves have to open up our book and insert the new chapter inside to get to that happily-ever-after ending. Otherwise, like Mr Cynical would say , the good news of Jesus Christ is just another feel-good useless fairy-tale, left to gather dust on the table of unbelief.

"For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam)  the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one Man (Jesus Christ)  the many will be made righteous" - Romans 5:19