A Child's Desire | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: A Child's Desire | Previous Challenge Entry
By Eli Espinoza
01/19/05
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In more than one occasion, my desire was similar to many other people. I wanted to be wealthy beyond my wildest dream. I wanted to have everything money can buy. I knew that if I could just win the Texas Lotto one time that would be it. I would never have to work again. It’s a little funny how your desires change as you change. I remember growing up in a small West Texas town, population 700. I thought it was the biggest town on earth. I couldn’t imagine that other people lived anywhere but Loraine, TX. My biggest desire was to be able to stay and play all night long with my brothers and cousins. It didn’t matter if it was baseball, football, or freeze tag. The only thing that mattered was playing and knowing that my mom was there every time one of us fell down. The only thing we worried about is the rain, but even then, we still went out to play.

As I grow older, my desires became different. I had to have girls like me. I had to be the class clown. I had to be a good fighter like my brothers. Growing up in a family of five boys; fighting is the only option. The only good thing about fighting was that we never held grudges. I started playing sports at a young age. When I was in the sixth grade, I started playing for the junior high team. I had to be better than my brothers. I guess my fun times turned to competition. My desire was to be the best and become a top athlete. Maybe even turn pro by the eighth grade. I wasn’t the youngest, but I was smaller than my brothers and my teammates. One good thing is that I had the heart and mind set of a warrior, but the body of pygmy. I didn’t let that slow me down one bit.

Once I got in high school, my desire was to be “cool” and fit in with the “bad boys”. I drank and smoked. I couldn’t pass my classes to stay in athletics. I used to say that if I had won the lottery I would buy a big house and party all night, every night. I am glad I didn’t win the lottery. The world would be a dumber place if I did. I don’t know what causes people to change so dramatically in life. I went from wanting to play all night to drink all night. It took me a long time to realize that I was wasting my time with the drinking, and the dream of winning the lottery. God had something more for me. Boy, am I glad that he did.

I’m thirty, now. I finally learned that the some of the desires that I had as a child were all wrong. I know now that the thing I desire most in life is God’s will. The road that God has for me is my only desire. He has blessed me with a beautiful daughter, who I often refer to as “My Little Lottery”. I am glad that God knows me better than I know myself. With Him in my life, I have found the joy that I lost when I was a child playing all day with my brothers. My mom passed away a few years ago, but I am glad that my Father is here for me every time I fall down.

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