What’s on Your Wish List if You Had One Wish?

Thanksgiving is in the rearview mirror. Are you ready for the next big day—Christmas? I bet you’ve made your list and checked it twice—maybe more. Tree? Check. Black Friday big screen TV? Check. Cyber Monday X-box? Check. That brand new car with a big red bow? Check, check, check. You can tell a lot about a person by their list. Consider the list I found in the Twitter-verse of a ten-year-old and her ten-year-old brother:

Dear Santa, I hope you’ve been good this year.  If so, here’s our list…

They made their list, but kind of missed the concept of the “list”. Well, don’t fret kids. Grown-ups’ kinda miss it, too.  We make lists, but miss the bigger picture behind the big day and for that matter, every day. As preparation for Advent—the four week season on the Christian calendar celebrating the first and second coming of Christ—consider this question: What’s on your wish list if you had one wish?  King Solomon did.

Here is the backstory in 1 Kings 3. Solomon has inherited the kingship of Israel after the death of King David, his father. He overcame enemies within his family and without for the throne. Now this young man is faced with the challenge of his life: ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel—God’s people. So, God appeared to Solomon in a dream with an opportunity:

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, "Ask what [you wish] me to give you." 1 King 3:5

In essence, God was asking young King Solomon: What’s on your wish list if you had one wish?   Here is what Solomon wished for:

 "So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?" 1 King 3:9

God was so pleased that this child king did not ask for riches and other things for himself, He would give him wisdom and more:

Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13"I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 1 King 3:12,13

It did not take long to see Solomon’s wisdom in action. He solved a dilemma of two woman claiming one child as their own. “Bring me my sword.” He threatened to cut the baby in two knowing that the real mother would step up and give her child away to save her child. She did, moving Solomon to say. “This is the mother (v. 27). He gave the child to her.

What if, foremost on our one wish list, is wisdom? Imagine what that gift would mean to you, your family and your world:

• Wisdom could mean, instead of an unnecessary, new car, starting a scholarship for one deserving, underserved child so the course of their life could be forever altered for the better.

• Wisdom could mean, instead of the biggest, big-screen TV, sponsoring a book vending machine for an underserved public elementary school library. Instead of banning books, you’d boost a hunger for reading.

• Wisdom could mean, instead of an x-box, a laptop for a mother in a shelter so she can look for a job.

Wisdom is a gift that keeps on giving. Put it on your wish list if you had one wish this Christmas Day and every day.