The other day I was reading in my room—a common occurrence for me—when my brother very abruptly walked through my door and said, “If I had twenty-five wishes, I would wish for Latamus (one of our cats) to be,” he spread his hands two feet apart, “this big.”
I laughed at the random statement, but it got me thinking. What we would choose to do with “wishes” reveals a lot about us inside. I asked him why twenty-five wishes, as it seemed a very random number to me. He told me it was because if he only had three, or ten, or a smaller number, he wouldn’t waste his wishes on that. But if he had twenty-five, well, he had a few to spare to make our cat exponentially bigger.
I started thinking about what I would do with twenty-five, ten, and three wishes. With lots to spare, the list is definitely a little sillier, with more unconventional wishes on the list, but when I only had a few wishes, my priorities came out fast.
That’s something that’s always struck me about the story of Solomon and his dream. God asked him if he could have anything, what would it be, and he says wisdom? That’s the first priority in his mind? I always liked to think growing up that I would ask for wisdom, but I doubt I would. My priorities are a little (okay, a lot) different. Now, I’m not saying the things I prioritize are bad. Some of them are really good things. I’ve also read a few too many books about wishes going wrong, so I was really thinking through the potential chain of events from each wish, which also helps knock off the unwise wishes. If something could have terrible side effects, I probably don’t want it too badly, which helps the focus on more important things.
Overall I realized that there’s probably a reason we don’t have wishes granted overly much. We would have way too many oversized animals walking around, and the things that are hard for us, the things we would wish into perfection, wouldn’t cause us to change and grow and seek after the Lord’s heart for us.
I invite you to think about what you would wish for. Figure out your priorities, and then go from there. Are your priorities something you are happy with? Or is it something you are a bit ashamed of? Take it to the Lord. He can straighten your priorities. He can fix your eyes on Him.
