Daddy, Please.

This morning I am thinking about my conversation with a colleague about the young child she recently adopted.  We laughed as she shared how her husband absolutely dotes on their new son.  One thing that especially brought a smile to my heart was hearing what her son does when he’s out shopping with his dad and sees something he likes.  He simply points to the thing he wants and says, “Daddy, please.”    Although he has only been with them a short time, their son has observed a pattern of behavior in his father that indicates two things:  his father is able to give him good things and his father is willing to give him good things.  Sometimes their son is given the object of his desire right away.  At other times, he doesn’t leave the store with what he wants.  Yet, he doesn’t fret over it.  Because sometimes, on an ordinary day when the child is just playing contentedly, his dad will present him with a surprise...a toy, a game, or something else that he’d previously requested.  In those moments, both father and child are delighted.  That conversation with my colleague stirred up happy memories of “asking and receiving” from my own dad.  It has also led me reflect on how I approach my Father, God, about the things I desire.  In doing so, I had to swallow a rather bitter pill of truth.  Somewhere along the line, I forfeited the simple gift of asking.  I traded it for second-guessing, manipulating, pining, and whining.  At the root of it all was the fact that I simply did not like to wait.  I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it!  Well, one of the beautiful things about the truth is that it restores clarity for me.  And, what is clear to me in this moment is that, over the course of my life, I have observed a pattern of behavior in my Father that indicates two things:  He is able to give good things to me and He is willing to give good things to me.  In my spirit, I sense a sweet invitation to “Ask what you will.”  I realize that I might not receive it all today…or tomorrow.  But I trust that, on ordinary days when I’m just praying contentedly, He will present me with the desires of my heart.  For now, I simply say, “Daddy, please.”