When we are worried, we easily find ourselves wishing for things to be different. We dwell on the ‘if only’s’ and ‘what if’s’ so readily. When troubles arise, we spend hours stewing over the possibilities in our minds. We worry about scenarios, we hope to see changes, we imagine things going one way or another.
As prone as I’ve always been to do it, I know the curious thing about worries and wishes is, even after I’ve invested so much time in them, I realize they have gotten me nowhere.
I have several friends right now who are in different stages of cancer diagnosis. The wait seems excruciating. The testing, followed by delay and interruption are a breeding ground for consuming worries, wishes and thoughts to take over the mind.
Last week, after a night of being awakened to pray for my friend, when morning came I checked Facebook, and I realized the friend for whom I had been worrying and praying was already ahead of me. She said, “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” (Epictetus)
I believe God wants to see us go from the point of wishes, worries, and hopes to a place of faith. But getting there is sometimes tough. When we shift from wishing to believing and having faith, it requires action. (Whereas, wishing requires nothing but time.) I have grown to understand that faith usually requires action. Faith often engages the power of our will. I believe God calls us to be authentic and real in our walk with Him. He doesn’t want us to be some fake, pie-in-the-sky kind of people. He gives us practical tools to put to work in our lives.
What are some of the tools that will help us become people of faith? Romans 10:17 says, “…faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” The first thing we should do when we are drawn to worrying and wishing, is to fill up our minds with God’s Word. Read it, listen to it, and apply it as often as possible.
The second tool we can use to become a person of faith is to remember to be thankful. Hebrews 12:28 says, “Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God.” Setting our minds on all we have to be grateful for changes not just our thought process, but also moves our hearts toward God and toward people. We can make a journal of all the things we can be thankful for. We can tell the people we love how much they mean to us. We can thank God for His blessings in our lives.
Thirdly, another tool is to take a practical look at our reality and pinpoint the areas we need to change by making a list. I know it sounds elementary, but we tend to make it easier to deny what we don’t have written down. Eleanor Roosevelt said,
”It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
Habakkuk 2:2 says, “…Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” Once we get it in writing, we can ask God to help us find creative solutions and to take steps that will put change in motion in our reality.
The fourth tool is to make a simple new habit out of prayer. By not getting on the phone with our friends, but having a conversation with our Creator instead. He already knows all about our wishes, He has our worries all figured out and He knows the answers. So why not go to the source? Talk to Him!
Wishing can be the propellant to move us toward hope and eventually toward having faith to pray and believe God for more, so I’m not saying that wishing is wrong. I am saying if spending our days wishing robs us of valuable time that we could be investing in an actual plan for growth and change, then we are allowing wishing to sabotage us.
I remember riding bicycles a lot when I was a kid, out in the country on dusty dirty roads. In Oregon, in particular, where it rains a lot, ruts would begin to be developed in the road, where patterns of tires would be etched down into the dirt, and those ruts would get deeper and deeper through time. Our pattern of thought becomes just like tires in the rut of the old dirt road. We need to pick up our wheels, get out of the dirt, and find a fresh path.
If we want to accomplish the life God has planned for us, we need to take measurable steps toward it, and not spend our lives in wild imaginations. Washington Irving said,”Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.” Never forget that you and I were created to have and to live with purpose. If wishing gets you started on your path toward purpose, then wish away; I’m just saying don’t get stuck in the rut. Let your worries and wishes turn to hope, your hope to faith, and your faith to action.
