lessons my son teaches me #93

Judah: "Daddy, you forgot to give me a drink before we left this morning."
Me: "No I didn't. You simply didn't ask me for one."
...
Me: "God, we keep pinching our pennies, and we're trying to be the best stewards we can with what you've given us. We sow, water, weed, repeat, etc. When do we get to reap? Why haven't you brought a harvest? Why aren't we financially free of debt and able to move forward?"
God: (moments after I answered Judah this morning) "You haven't reaped because you haven't asked me for a harvest?"
...
sigh.

I'm an idea person. I like to understand concepts and often have a hard time moving forward until I have a grasp on what I'm moving toward. So, asking God for a financial outpouring in the midst of a world where the majority struggles for daily sustenance - food, water, shelter - has been a difficult concept to grasp. Afterall, from that perspective we're sitting rather pretty.

What I've finally come to realize is that I don't and won't get this one. It isn't my job. My job, like that of my son in the above dialogue, is to ask. Sure I have to do the best I can with what's in front of me, which I have. Sure I have to examine my motives to make sure we're not after greed and keeping up with the world around us, which I have and continue to examine.

But. I've been forgetting a very part. Ask. Seek. Knock.
I'm finally ready to start asking. Sometimes Judah asks for things that I'm not ready to give him. Other times, I'm waiting for him to ask before I impart them.

On a side note, and the tie-in to this post is too cumbersome to explain (you wouldn't want to wade through it), did the prodigal son's elder brother - the one who got ticked off - ever ask his father for a fatted calf? I don't think so. I think he just got ticked off that he was doing the right things and maybe even for the right reasons and yet never received what his wayward sibling was getting out of nowhere. However, he never asked for a party with his friends so why did he get mad at his pop. Maybe his dad never thought about it. Maybe he would've given his older son a party if he'd asked. So, if I don't have a great harvest that I haven't asked for, why should I be surprised or upset?

Like I said, trying to bring this to a close, I'm starting to ask.