After watching Cinderella, five-year-old Sarah pretended to be the fairy godmother. Holding her pinwheel as a magic wand, she approached her mom. "Make three wishes," Sarah instructed, "and I'll grant them."
Thinking quickly, Sarah’s mom first asked for world peace. Sarah swung her “wand” once and proclaimed the request fulfilled.
For her second wish, the mother requested a cure for all sick children. Again, with a sweep of her pinwheel, Sarah declared the wish granted.
The mother, with a glance down at her rather ample curves, made her third wish: "I wish to have a trim figure again."
The miniature fairy godmother started waving her wand wildly as she spun in circles. "I'm gonna need lots more power for this one!" she exclaimed.
If you could have your wishes granted, would it take great power to grant them? What would you want?
It seems to me that many of us spend much of our lives wishing – for the perfect job or an ideal spouse. We wish for that perfect house on the beach or high on a mountainside. We wish for a windfall to provide us with the money to pay for the house. We wish the kids would be quiet for just a minute! We wish to be thinner, or stronger, or taller, or to have more hair, or whatever it is that we think would make us attractive. But what is it that we really want? Or really need to make us happy?
As the Stones put it a few decades ago, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” God (not surprisingly) does one better than Jagger. He boldly promises to grant us everything we need. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness,” we’re told, “through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).
Everything we need! His divine power is already enough. No waving of wands or making of wishes. Everything we need for life is ours through Jesus the Christ. Isn’t that what Jesus was saying when he promised, “you will find rest for your souls (psyches)” (Matthew 11:29)? Isn’t that what Paul was referencing when he said, “I have learned the secret of being content” (Philippians 4:12)?
Everything we need for life – for what more could you wish?