MATTHEW 7:7-12

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

When my daughter was a little girl, she contracted a sinus infection that caused one of her eyes to swell shut. (This happened over Christmas. Of course it did.) The doctor prescribed medicinal eye drops, which we were to apply to her little eyes several times a day. I don't know if it's easier to rope a calf than to apply eye drops to a squirmy toddler, but I'm certain it's more pleasant for both cowboy and calf. After dropping the clear little drops in her hair and her ears and her mouth and her nose, we decided on a different tack: bribery. "If you let me put the eyedrops in your eyes, we'll give you some 'choca.''' ("Choca" being her word for chocolate.) It worked. A drop was equal to a chocolate chip, and soon several times a day we were being asked for "I-jops" and "chocas", and dispensing a fair quantity of both.

And then her prescription ran its course, the infection went away, and we no longer needed the bribe. However, like many a corrupt Third World bureaucrat, my daughter had become hooked on the bribes, and would silently sidle up to me several times a day, climb into my lap, stick her face in mine, cock her head like a crow, and earnestly ask, "I-jops? Chocas?"

Weak father though I am, I was not about to give her medicine she didn't need, and so I politely turned down her requests. If it were good for her, I'd have refilled the prescription, but it wasn’t and I didn’t.

But you know what? I loved it that she asked me, and I hope she never stops asking me for things.

Jesus says that if human fathers like me delight in giving to our children, how much more will the one he calls our "Father in heaven" delight in giving to his children. Again, Jesus sees the world as a fundamentally good and safe place for those who trust God.

So, when he says in today's Gospel reading, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you,” he really means it.

What do you need to ask for today?

How would your life change if you woke up every morning feeling certain that God loves you and wants good things for you?