What Do You Want?

Most of us have something we want to do, but it scares us. Or freaks us out. Or overwhelms us. But that dream has us nevertheless. We can’t shake it. We find ourselves daydreaming about seeing it come to life, but then we shake ourselves back to reality. The list of excuses and reasons why it can never happen dominate our thoughts.

But what if what you want was put inside of you because you are the one who is supposed to fulfill it? What if that dream is within you on purpose?

For some of us, that dream is enormous. You want to build a company that impacts millions of people. Or you want to design a product or service that will revolutionize life for people. Or you can see how to solve a problem that every human faces every day. You want to cure a disease. Some of us have a vision for righting wrongs in this world and restoring justice. That dream causes our hearts to beat fast and our palms to sweat.

For others of us, what we want is highly personal. You dream of growing old with your partner and being healthy enough to enjoy it. You want to travel the world with your family. There’s a dream to start a family foundation that leaves a legacy by serving the marginalized and oppressed. You want to get out of debt … permanently. You want to be in a job that you love and brings meaning to the world. You dream about designing a life you love and not being trapped by the past. You want to write a book. Your personal dream is just the beginning to more.

It doesn’t matter so much what you want, it’s that you want it.

Here’s the truth, friends: You have been created to dream, to imagine the possibility of a future you can co-create. Your life is made for more the the status quo. Settling isn’t in our DNA. The soulful movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” compels me with this…

Your dream is worth holding on to. Go get it.

As a person of deep faith, it’s important to me that what I want aligns with what God wants for me. Sometimes it can be difficult to discern “is this what I want or is it what God wants for me?” However, I’ve discovered that in the Gospels (the first four books of the New Testament) Jesus asks his audience and listeners somewhere between 200-300 questions. You can synthesize them into three different groups of questions, but if you were to summarize those hundreds of questions, the #1 question Jesus asks is “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” The God of the Universe wants to know what you want. God in human flesh asks over and over again what we desire. To find the answer, love God and do as you please.

When we train our soul to be in love with God, the only thing we can want is aligned with the Beloved One. When we love God, our heart is connected to God’s heart and what we want becomes what God wants for us.

What we want becomes a defining question of our lives.

So, what is it? What do you want? Answering that question fully can be the defining question of your life.