That question can have a variety of meanings!
From a teen to a teacher it can be a complaining cry after an assignment has been rejected. From a sibling it can be a putdown to a younger brother or sister. From a parent it can be a caring response to their child as they lift them up on their lap.
But the concept for this column that I would like for you to consider is the one where you ask yourself this question. “Really, what do you want?” What is it that you desire most in life? What do you crave to experience, enjoy, obtain, or achieve?
These are great questions to ask because they define our motivations for life. Our desires drive our activities and our acquisitions.
When we are young we want everything because we don’t have much. You don’t have to teach a child to “want” things. That just comes naturally. Just take a child into a store and watch what happens. Every aisle contains something they crave. What they see, they “want.” And it doesn’t take long for them to develop amazing skills to get what they “want.”
But watch what happens when they get it. Do their “wants” disappear? Hardly, they almost immediately shift their desire to something else they see or more of what they’ve already got. They are just never satisfied, are they?
But, then, neither are we! Oh we learn to disguise it, control it sometimes, even deny it, but we aren’t ever really satisfied, are we? And as we get old enough to begin making our own choices, if we give in to our desires often enough they can control us through addictions of all kinds. Desires can “drive us” and they can “dominate us.”
If they are all bad, then why did God give them to us? If they are good, then how can I experience their benefits in my life and what are they? In short, how can I deal with my desires? In this month’s columns we will try to answer these questions.
Let me close this week’s column with a quote for you to contemplate. Psalm 37:4 - “Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the “desires” of your heart.”
