by Deacon Dr. Napoleon Paxton
Growing up, it didn't take me long to figure out that you don't always get what you want. As a child, I can remember being excited when the new J.C. Penny's Christmas catalogue came out. I would rummage through the pages looking for the perfect gift to ask for. Once I found the perfect gift I would come up with a plan to "encourage" my parents to purchase it for me. In my mind the plan was full proof. Usually it involved me letting them know how good I had been throughout the year and how it was only "fair" that I receive this nice gift as a reward. My parents would look at the item and say, "We'll see." On Christmas morning I would wake up hoping to see the gift I had been desperately wanting for months, but in many cases the gift I wanted wasn't there. I can remember having many different emotions during those times. 
First I would be confused because I knew I was good and in my mind I deserved it. Then, I would be sad because I the gift was something I really wanted. Finally, (later on), I would be happy because as I looked around, there were gifts for me that I really enjoyed and it would make me forget about the one gift that I did not get.
As followers of Christ, many of us go through the same process. We discover something we want. We ask God for it and remind him why we should have it, and we go through a variety of emotions if we do not receive what we ask for. Like most children I had the advantage of a short memory, so I didn't wallow in pity long. I was able to look around and find something else to play with which made me happy. As I grew older I became more set on the things I wanted and the emotion of disappointment stayed with me longer.
When I was a child my parents knew me and they knew the effect the gift I asked for would have on me. If I asked for something I couldn't handle or something that they knew I wouldn't like later on, they wouldn't buy it for me.
God does the same thing for us all. He knows what's best for us and sometimes that doesn't line up with what we want. As we mature in Christ we should learn to not only accept the answer "no" when God does not allow us to have some things, but we should rejoice because God knows what's best for us.