I Wish and I Want....

How many times a day do we say these words?  I wish and I want...I have a feeling we have all been saying them a lot lately. "I wish this virus stuff had never started, I want everything to go back to normal"..... "I wish I could go back to work and I wish I could stroll through Target without a mask"..... Well, maybe we aren't all saying we want to go back to work, but let's face it, I have been saying things like that for the whole of my life....."I want prettier hair.....I wish my husband looked like that.....I wish Jesus would come back.....I wish there wasn't cancer..... I want that car.....I want that house.....I wish  my thighs were smaller (and other parts were bigger).....I want a job like that person.....I wish one of my marriages had worked out.....I wish I had a pony".....And then we look up and we say "Lord, why aren't you fixing this, why aren't you healing,  where's my freakin' pony?"
How easy it is to fall into the trap of wanting.  I am not saying it is wrong to want, we want good things all the time.  It isn't wrong to want a family and a nice house and economic security and a safe place to sleep and a good job you love and a sickness healed.  Generally, the THINGS we want are not bad, but does our attitude and treatment of ourselves and others depend on us getting those things?  That's when we have a problem, when the things we WANT become the things we focus on above anything else.  Do we get mad at God when things just don't work out the way we WANT?  I know I do!  I scream and curse and yell and ask "why God, why"?  And softly, when the screams become broken sobs, the curses prayers, and the yelling ceases, I hear my heart cry out that it may not be His plan for my life right now.  This is why the world does not embrace Him, because to choose a life with Him and to serve Him means to submit to Him and accept His authority over our lives even when we don't understand (which is me about 80% of the time).  See, everything around us in the world tells us it's okay to focus on what we WANT and to do whatever it takes to get it, because "I'll be happy when..." But lasting joy comes only from above!  Remember beloved....A life's journey with God is not the easy path, but it is a destination beyond description.
God does not withhold things from us because He is mean and wants us to be sad and not have things, He just knows that not all things accomplish what He wants accomplished.  He alone can see the beginning of all things, the presence of all things and the finished work of art yet to be produced.   He knows that lasting joy and fulfillment can't be found in Things, only in serving Him and living the life He has chosen for us.  I know He has plans for each of us because if He didn't we wouldn't be here and although I yell at Him quite often about the state of things within my heart, my world, or the world at large, I know He is good, though things in this world are very often not good.  So in this season of definitely not "what we want", let us choose to find the good in what we can, remember that He is always that good in everything and that there is purpose in all the seasons we travel.  Of course, I am never going to stop Wanting smaller thighs....Come to think of it, I should probably want a smaller mouth too.....hmmmmm.
If you are blessed enough to be a mother, Happy Mother's Day!  I am a little prejudice, but I have the best mom ever and I am so thankful for her!