Wishes

          What do you want for Christmas or Hannukah (or whatever you observe the holidays as)? you may ask of others. Many of us parents may, for greater ease of reference when holiday shopping, request that our children make out their "wish lists." True, especially if we have limited financial respources to work with or are on budgets, we have no intention on getting everything, even most of the items, we see on such wish lists. A couple of years ago, when my nephew who is close to our daughter, was asked to create his wish list, he wowed us with his list. For it was so long and contained so many items that he took a number of sheets of paper and taped them together! Of course, we could grant only a few wishes on his list and he understood that. A well-known nonprofit organization has been built on and named after granting wishes, year-round, for terminally ill children. We often hear people, normally adults, frame their holiday wishes to underscore their year-round passions or things we should all be wishing for. And what is so special about one time of the year that we should want something that we would not want at any other time of the year?
          There are many people whose life circumstances are such that their desires have become singular and focused, even though they want many things. But they have a focused desire; they want "one thing." It is the thing that they care most about, whether because of tragedy or because it is something that they have invested much of themselves in.
          What do people with all kinds of severe, chronic, or terminal illnesses, want? Physical health, healing and life. Their suffering, pain and the uncertainty of their very existence has reduced them to this passionate, all-consuming desire.
          What do military troops and their families, who are often physically separated by being in different countries or even continents and who may wonder if they will even see each other again, want? They want to be re-united. The loneliness and agony of separation has focused their desire on this one thing that can end all this.
          What do people living with addictions want? Though it may seem to them and to us that they want to satisfy their addictions, whether to drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, food, or other addictions, what they really want is to be free of their addictions and to be free to deal with and to be healed of the underlying issues that fuel their addictions.
          What do families of victims (especially murder victims) and victims and survivors of a host of crimes want to see? They yearn for justice, answers and vindication. The sheer agony and pain of what has happened to them and which never should have happened in the first place, has made their hearts cry out for this as their single heart's desire.
          What do people of faith, worldwide, who face severe persecution because of their faith, desire? They want to be empowered to serve their God. Even more than religious freedom, they want the support and resources that the free world can provide, including Bibles and other Christian or equivalent literature or resources. The very reason for their persecution being their passion and devotion to serving their God, this has reduced such heroic individuals to desiring to be empowered and supported above all else.
          What do people hungry people, especially those living with severe and even life-threatening hunger, want? Food! Of course. But the sad and tragic fact is, especially in areas like Africa, millions die of starvation without this all-consuming desire being met!
          What do thirsty people, especially those living with severe and even life-threatening thirst or who have no access to safe drinking water, yearn for? Water! Of course. But here too, the sad and tragic fact is that, epecially in Africa, millions likewise die of dehydration or from the effects of unsafe drinking water and this all-consuming desire is not met!
          What does an unborn child, especially one conceived to an abortion-minded or abortion-vulnerable family, yearn for? Life! Reasearch shows that, during abortions, especially late-term abortions, the unborn child will fight mightily to live. The video by Dr. Bernard Nathanson, "The Silent Scream," is sound evidence of this fact. This makes abotion not only a trauma for those left behind but a human rights abuse of the unborn child.
          What does an abused child want? To be free of abuse! The sheer helplessness and hopelessness
of their situations has reduced them to this singular yearning. Ideally, the yearning is that those who are the only ones they know, would stop the abusing. Child removal is traumatic but should a child remain with abusive parents who will not reform their ways?
          What do families with missing loved ones want? Above all things, they want to see their loved ones come home; they want answers! Even if the outcome is not what they yearn for, they yearn even more for answers. Ideally, they want to see their loved one come home safe. But the sheer uncertainty and agony of not knowing drives them to crave this one thing above all else. Even a proper burial and seeing their loved one be honored and remembered as well as knowing what has happened to them, in preferable to remaining in limbo.
          What do couples struggling with infertility and the effort to bear children, want? Children. The anguish and the emotional pain of not being able to obtain what so many others gain without any effort on their part, has reduced these couples to this one focused desire.
          What does a homeless person want? A roof over his or her head. The indignity and fear and the drive just to survive every minute, makes their hearts cry out for one thing. But it will not come to them through handouts but by the hand that provides them with life skills and job skills training as well as job opportunities and education.
          What do many aging people, especially in our free world, want? Respect. The rudeness, insensitivity and even abuse that so many are treated with in our youth-worshiping culture, has caused many of our seniors to yearn for the respect and honor that most of them deserve.
          What do many pastors want? Unity in their congregations. Gossip, inner dissension and infighting, divisions and church splits, cause pastors heartbreak. Their anguish causes so many pastors to yearn for this one thing.
          What do people with special needs of all ages and their families want? Acceptance and support from others. More than for cures, treatments or therapies, people with disabilities and their families yearn for one thing, acceptance and to be and feel welcome. The intolerance, stigma, misunderstanding and lack of accommodations most deal with make their hearts cry out just to be welcome and accepted and to be seen as people who can and do contribute to others.
          There are no doubt others who want "just one" thing" not covered here, but for the sake of space and because they are not coming to mind now, I will not cover them here. But what does God want? It would be easy to say that He wants world peace. And He does. But more than anything else, He wants us to be at peace with him through coming to know Him through His Son, Jesus. He wants us to ask Him to forgive us for our wrongs and to trust Him to save us through what Jesus has done for us in coming to Earth, being born as man, living a perfect life, dying for us and returning to life. By being at peace with God, we will be at peace with each other and this will bring about world peace.
          Have you granted God's wish?
          Have you granted another person's wish?

You can help grant the wish of families with missing loved ones to bring their loved ones home by visiting:
http://lostnmissing.com/
http://missing-and-unidentified.org/
http://www.doenetwork.org/start.html

You can grant an abused child's wish to be free from abuse and visit:
http://www.childhelp.org/

You can grant a desperately poor child's wish for a better life and visit:
http://worldvision.org/
http://www.compassion.org/

You can grant the wish of the persecuted for resources and support so they can serve their God by visiting:
http://www.persecution.com/
http://www.persecution.org/

You can grant a seriously ill child the resources and support needed for healing and recovery by visiting:
http://www.stjude.org/
You can help a cancer patient in your life increase their odds of healing and recovery by visiting this site and the referring them:
http://www.cancercenter.org/

You can show your support and care for one wrongfully convicted and imprisoned autistic young man by visiting:
http://avoiceforneli.com/

You can help show your care and give people in emotional distress hope by visiting:
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

You can grant autistic people's desire for acceptance and understanding by visiting:
http://www.grasp.org/

You can grant a soldier's wish for support by visiting:
http://www.thankasoldier.net/