HOPES vs WISHES

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Nouwen once penned,

“I have found it very important in my own life to try to let go of my wishes and instead to live in hope. I am finding that when I choose to let go of my sometimes petty and superficial wishes and trust that my life is precious and meaningful in the eyes of God something really new, something beyond my own expectations begins to happen for me. ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Let that little nugget of insight wash over you for a second.

When we "WISH" it often revolves around “us”; what WE THINK is best for us, what WE THINK will make us the happiest and most fulfilled.

We “wish” for this and “wish” for that; the perfect girl or guy, money and fame.

And yet Nouwen reminds that wishing pales in comparison to HOPING in a GOD who is deeply invested in us, loves us and already has the best for us in mind!

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you… Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered…you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:7 (NIV)

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

And those are just a few of the tried and true evidences of how precious we are to GOD. So why WOULD we settle for “our wishes” instead of hoping in Him?

McDonald once commented that…

“I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.”

Therefore why WOULD we lean on only our understandings or our views of our potential when our GOD has said time and time again, “trust me first”, “seek me first”, “I am with you”, “my love endures forever”?

Why would we ever want to usurp what GOD has in mind for us today and in the future?

Good questions, right?

Our lives ARE meaningful in GOD’S eyes. 

He sacrificed His most precious so that we can realize the fulfilled and free lives He envisioned for us.

And let me be clear, I am not saying that “wishing” is a bad thing.  Mickey Mouse, Jiminy Cricket and Tinkerbell have made a pretty healthy living on them.  What I am saying is that maybe it is time for us to start HOPING and SEEKING instead.

…(Don’t) be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out…Matthew 6:32-33(MSG)

Instead of “wishing about what we will get”, we would be better served to respond to GOD immeasurable giving.

Instead of fussing over what we don’t have or wishing for what we think we need, we should instead hope and seek for what GOD has in mind for us.

GOD won’t let us miss out.

He won’t.

He promised.

With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. Ephesians 3:20 (ERV)

Or "WISH" for…

HAVE A BLESSED DAY!

LOVE YOU ALL

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE