Life doesn’t give you what you ask for, it rather provides you with the opportunities to potentially receive these things.
No matter what your religious or spiritual beliefs are, one thing is certain; God / The Universe does not play favorites. Why should God give one man a life of luxury, health and success while another suffers from poverty and illness? The bottom line is that we are what we are based on how and what we think about throughout our daily lives. The hard fact is that what we ask or wish for on a daily basis will not come to fruition if we do nothing about it.
There are so many of us out there who rely on God or an Infinite Power to heal them, to make them rich, and to make their dreams come true. What these people fail to understand is that God will not fulfill their desires. It is rather up to the person asking for these things to keep an eye out for opportunities coming their way that may possibly enable them to fulfill their needs and wants.
There is an old tale about a man caught in a flood asking God for help.
A nearby river’s banks overflow and an old man finds himself caught in a flood. In order to avoid the water he climbs up to the roof of his home and prays for God to rescue him in his time of need. Shortly after his prayer, a lady in a row boat comes across the man sitting on his roof. She asks him to come aboard so that she can take him to safety. However, the old man insists that he will be fine, and that God will save him and keep him from harm.
Less than an hour later the rising water has almost reached the rooftop of the old man’s home. At this time a rescue boat approaches the old man and asks him to come on board so that they can take him to safety. The stubborn old man reassures the life rescue team that he will be fine as God will surely save him. The boat leaves, leaving the old man sitting and praying on his rooftop once again.
Less than a half hour later the old man’s feet are now standing in a stream of water that continues to rise rapidly. All of a sudden a helicopter comes out of nowhere and hurtles down a folding ladder to the old man below. However, the old man rejects this final rescue attempt saying that God will save him. The rescue team doesn’t have time to argue with the stubborn old man and politely inform him bluntly that if he doesn’t grab hold of the rescue ladder that he will be swept away by the rising current and will likely drown. The old man looks up at the helicopter, thanks them for their help and kneels down to pray.
Moments later the old man is swept away by the current and meets his untimely death.
The old man is brought to the pearly gates of heaven where God welcomes him with open arms. Although glad to be in heaven, the old man is perplexed and confused as to why God did not help him in his time of need. And so he approaches and asks God for an explanation.
“Why did you not save me in my greatest time of need?” says the old man.
God looks down upon him with kind eyes and says, “My dear child, whatever you have asked for have I not given to you? You asked to be taken to safety and so I obliged by sending you 2 boats and a helicopter. What you do with what I provide is not in my hands. I can only provide you with the opportunities to fulfill your wants and desires. What you do with those opportunities when they come your way is completely up to you.”
The old man looked down upon his feet, a little ashamed of these hasty decisions. However, he finally understood the true and real power of prayer.
It is also important to consider that opportunities can and do at times come disguised as problems. And it is because we perceive them as being problems that we fail to take advantage of the good things that come our way everyday. In fact problems are there to help us grow, and to assist us to expand our awareness allowing for the fulfillment of our ever growing and expanding potential.
When it comes to so called problems; what you see isn’t always what you get.
There is an old saying which reminds us that we don’t get what we ask for but rather what we deserve. It simply guides us to an understanding that no matter what problems or opportunities we are faced with, we will end up getting what we deserve based on the decisions made in the moment.
Finally, opportunities / problems are like boomerangs that will tend to come back again and again in different ways, shapes and forms up until the moment we learn, grow and make use of them, thusly allowing us to fulfill the deepest wants and desires we have been longing for all this time.
The next time you are faced with a problem (disguised as an opportunity), you might find it helpful to ask yourself the following sets of questions:
How can I see this problem as an opportunity that will move me forward and past my current predicament?
What does this problem have to teach me about my life, myself and others?
How can I best take advantage of this problem and turn it into an opportunity to move me forward?
What is it exactly that this problem is hinting at? What is it revealing to me that I initially did not see?
If all my problems suddenly became opportunities, what new empowering decisions would I make today?
Michael V. Reynold.
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