Only Ask

Yesterday Tim, Matthew and I went to a hardware store to buy an circuit breaker for downstairs to connect an electric fireplace we are installing in Matthew's room. On the way home, I stopped off at a grocery store to buy a few groceries. Instead of staying in the car, Tim and Matthew came into the store with me. As I was filling the cart with frozen fruit juices, I turned around to see why my sons weren't helping, and there they were, staring longingly in a trance-like state at ice cream — Breyers Reese's ice cream.

My youngest son, his eyes still fixed on the desired food, sensed my presence and asked, "What do you think, Mom?" I hesitated to answer his question, since I was trying to figure out what he thought I was supposed to think. He perceived my silence as reluctance and tried another approach: "It's on sale." I couldn't help but smirk at their patheticalness and told them to put the ice cream in the cart. The only stipulation I made was that they had to eat it all before their father got home on Monday. He's on a diet. "No problem!" they said.

When asking for ice cream, my sons were ambiguous and sheepish. They had a desire for the peanut-butter flavoured dessert, but one wouldn't say anything and the other chose to beat around the bush and ask, "What do you think, Mom?", following his vague question with the ultra-persuasive "It's-on-sale!" approach.

As I was thinking about my sons' hesitancy to ask, my thoughts turned toward my relationship with God. Do I do the same with God, my Heavenly Father, when I ask him for things? Do I try to convince God to answer my prayers when it's His natural desire to give good gifts to His children? The Bible says all you have to do is:

"Ask and it will be given unto you."

Matthew 7:7

God is our Heavenly Father, and just like it pleases a parent to give good gifts to his/her children, it pleases God even more, who is all-loving, to give good gifts to us. Of course, God won't give us everything we want, just like a parent shouldn't give a child everything he/she wants. As parents, and as children of God, we need to use wisdom and discernment in giving and asking. However, we don't need to be afraid to approach God. We can be straightforward with Him and ask. We don't need to be indirect, or to try to convince God.  We just need to ask and leave the answer in His hands. He loves us and enjoys blessing us with good gifts.