Wishes

Each week, many of us have floating through our minds a pocketful of wishes that we hope, somewhere out there, someone will grant. Alas, with each wish comes a collection of responsibilities. Each step up the ladder brings its own set of circumstances.

The granting of a wish can be a wonderful thing….a vehicle to spring us forward and elevate our lives to a place where we believe life can be more fulfilling. If all we do is look at the joy and exhilaration of the wish being granted, and fail to see the changes that come with it, a wish can easily turn into a burden.

Recently I saw a report on television where a person who won the state’s lottery mentioned how much their lives changed because of a sequence of numbers on a one dollar ticket. The man said that he planned to tell no one that he won, and he thought for sure that things would remain essentially the same…unfortunately, it was not to be the case. You see, he always wanted a Mercedes Benz…it was his dream car. So he went down to his local dealership and within days a brand new shining model was parked in the driveway. His wife wanted to completely renovate the kitchen and bathroom…so within hours an interior designer and crew were parked outside their house. All this commotion was not going down too well with the people on the block of their very modest neighborhood. Human beings can be a funny crew indeed…if they don’t know the reason for why something is changing, they can quickly come up with a reason of their own! So, the man who won the lottery and decided to mention it to no one, was now rumored to be a citizen dealing in narcotics! When he got word that these rumors were circulating the neighborhood, he tried to put a stop to it, and owned up and said hey, I won the lottery. What he heard back was mind blowing….nobody believed him! What finally happened was within three months, his house was put up for sale and he and his family left. His words to the reporter were, I didn’t change, everyone else did. Could he have handled it better? Perhaps…but wishes can take on a life of their own if one isn’t careful.

For me personally if a genie showed up at my door, and said, “Jennifer, I will grant you three wishes,” I would have to respond, “tell you what genie, can you give me 24 hours to think about it? So that I could get a chance to really think about what I need and the effects it would have on my life?” If the genie replied, “Nope Jennifer, it’s now or never,” from my experiences in life, I would have to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Each wish would change my life…I would want to make sure that the wishes were wise.

A wise person once said, “Be careful what you wish for, because it may just come true.” Dreaming and wishing are wonderful things, but they will mean nothing if they come true without appreciation. When we are presented with an opportunity, it’s important to be thankful and humble. Wishes should be opportunities that not only give to us, but also enable us to grant someone else their wishes.