You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime you find you get what you need.  

The Rolling Stones

Sometimes no matter how much we may want something to happen, no matter how much pray for that gift, no matter how much we sulk when we don’t receive what we wanted, as The Rolling Stones said:
We wind up getting what we need.

Image from:
Pixabay

Easier said than done for someone NOT steeped in this paradigm, however if we can learn to accept when something doesn’t go as planned and realize it only means something better is coming our way, we will experience less stress in our lives.  Stop expecting something to happen and embrace life even when that gift you’ve been praying for doesn’t arrive.

It’s as I said in last week’s column:
Where Would I Be?  What if everything you ever asked for were given to you?  Would you be happy with where you are now?  I doubt it.  Remember:
God is in control and he provides us with what we need not always what we want.  A perfect example of this is profiled in the previous link:
Losing the opportunity to work at Chatfield Hollow brought me to the Scranton Library.

I so wanted to work at Chatfield Hollow and I prayed every night for it.  However, there were other plans for my life and I’m so much happier where I am now.  There are so many more examples that I could give.  Every time something I THOUGHT I wanted, Every time I prayed for something as a child and didn’t get what I wanted, I sulked, I became angry, I cried; as do all children because they are not aware that something better always comes along.

It’s one of the reasons it’s so amazing for children to be growing up now.  For we can teach them that what you want isn’t always what you need.  And The Divine is always looking out for you.  We MUST teach our children that just because our prayers didn’t get us what we wanted doesn’t mean they weren’t heard.  God hears ALL prayers.

You can’t always get what you want, but if you listen to God, you’ll find you get what you need.

While I understand that isn’t what The Rolling Stones meant when they wrote that lyric, it IS how I choose to interpret it.

So remember, God is in control and God answers all our prayers and sometimes the answer is no, but the “no” ALWAYS comes with a gift.  You just have to keep your eyes open and remove those spiritual blinders.  You will see the gift if you look.

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
—
Chris

Once you realize that life is eternal,
That our souls our eternal,
That we return to light and physical over and over;

We then lose all our distress
We then lose all our fear of dying.  For there truly is no end.