"What do you want...?"

By Heidi Hess Saxton

What is your strongest memory of your wedding day? For me, it was the music. I was a week shy of my thirty-fifth birthday the day I clutched my father’s arm at the back of the church, listening to the soloist as she launched into the hymn that carried me up the aisle toward my groom.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart!
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought by day or by night.
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise.
Thou my inheritance, now and always …
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of All.

Truth be told, I had no clue about just how difficult the road would be—which is probably a blessing, because if I’d known I might have backed out and missed on the blessings as well. And so, tomorrow we celebrate eighteen years of marriage. Eighteen years of daily “I do’s.” I had asked God for my heart’s desire … and he sent me exactly what I needed. And I am so grateful that he did.

Have you ever asked God for something, and had God respond with something even better? In today’s first reading, that is exactly what the Lord offers Solomon. “Because you have asked for this [wisdom], … I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one equal to you” (1 Kgs 3:12).

When God is our Vision, we may never see riches or power. But the small irritants and annoyances that come our way give us a chance to raise our eyes once more, and to be thankful for the Wisdom that is there for the taking, if we will but ask.

About the Author:

Heidi is a wife and adoptive mother, contributing writer to WINE, and author of Advent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta and the follow-up companion, Lent with Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Servant, released January 2017). Heidi received a graduate degree in theology from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit in 2012, having converted to the Catholic faith in 1995 from the evangelical tradition. She met her husband, Craig, at the University of Michigan Ballroom Dance Club, and lives with her family (including two special-needs teenagers, a longsuffering Aussie shepherd and a snuggly Chiweenie) near South Bend, Indiana.