I Want What I Want

How much effort do you put into getting what you want? And here’s a disturbing thought: what if God doesn’t want you to have it?

Upsetting idea, isn’t it? Hold on while I climb up onto my soapbox.

We’ve been brainwashed by American thinking: if you work hard enough, you can have anything you want. According to Walt Disney, “Dreams really do come true.” But at the risk of being a little too much of a realist, the beauty of the original American Dream was the concept of the Self-Made Man, which celebrated the freedom to benefit from your hard work without the restrictions of the birth-determined economical and social stations of European countries. It was never a promise that you can have whatever you fix your eyes on. Who can promise that?

This concept of the American Dream has been so corrupted that it has come to idealize greed and materialism. And it’s crept into Christian thinking. We’ve made God our Genie-in-a-Lamp granting wishes. If we pray a certain way, make a deal with Him, or otherwise earn His favor, He will give us what we want.

Whether it’s moving back to Texas (you devoted Texans!), buying a house, getting a promotion, or becoming a novelist, we need to make sure that we remember the words of Jesus: “Not my will, but Yours be done.”

I don’t want to be a downer, but I think sometimes we need to be more invested in God’s will for us than in pursuing our own dreams. Because it’s possible that what you want is exactly what God wants for you too—just in His time and on His terms. Or maybe God has another dream for your life.

As I struggle with wanting what I want, which is to be a full-time novelist living in a beautiful historic home, I have to remember that I am not my own. I belong to God, and I have surrendered everything I have to Him. Including my dreams.

So I’m challenging myself along with you to keep our eyes focused on the things that have eternal value and to wait and see what God has planned for us. And to be content in the waiting, as well as satisfied with whatever comes.

You can send me your complaints and hate mail now. I can handle it.