It's Okay to Get What You Want

Christmas is a time where people gather together to celebrate the birth of Christ and it's also a time where people give each other gifts. In the weeks (or if you are my grandmother, months) leading up to the holiday, the question of "What do you want?" is bounced around. We are told to make a list of everything we want or need that we don't want to pay for ourselves so that loved ones can buy them for us. Some people have a list going year round of items they want, while others will take weeks to come up with maybe three items. Christmas forces us to look at what we have and wonder if there is anything else we want and people tend to either love it or are uncomfortable with just the thought of asking for anything. Wherever you land on the Christmas spectrum, it can generally be said that in this time, people tend to dream big. However, when the season ends and the novelty wears off we are left to go back to the reality of need vs. want.

While the joyful season is one of my favorites, in the end, I always tend to feel guilty. I feel guilty for not giving the perfect gift, guilty for getting frustrated when I don't get exactly what I asked for, and then guilty for even wanting something in the first place. I also find myself feeling the same way at times in my prayer life. I feel guilty for even considering the fact that I want to ask God for something. Whether for you that is a job, a relationship, or a community of people that will support you, I am here to tell you that it is perfectly okay to want things in this life. It is okay to want things as long as you are giving that want to God and trusting Him with it.

Negativity tends to flood into our prayer life as prayers become more precautionary towards a negative outcome. Prayers become "If this isn't Your will God, allow me to accept that" or "God guard my heart in this trying situation where I may end up hurt". While there is nothing wrong with asking God for protection, God wants us to share our inmost desires with Him.

...God wants us to share our inmost desires with Him."

On top of that, He wants us to pray and prepare for these things to be apart of His plan. No where in the Bible does it say that God does not want us to dream about our future and share these dreams with him. I typically find myself praying for preservation when it comes to relationships. I will ask God if the relationship is not of Him to let me know and take it away. But there was one time where God stopped me in my tracks. I was praying this preservation prayer for about an hour before God interrupted me and said "But what if it is part of my plan? What will you do then?" And I was at a loss for words because I had been so focused on the worst outcome that I forgot my God is a god of wonders and promises. Why would I not ask God for things that I want? He is not a god of malice and his intentions are pure and kind.

My answer was a humbling one as I accepted that it is not in my control but in God's. Trusting that He is who He says He is the only way to truly experience peace in the things you want. But again, there is no shame in wanting them if you trust God to give you what you need not just what you want. Personally, I need to lean into this when I enter new chapters of my life because this is where true hope is found.