What do you want?

"Ask, and it shall be given..."

I have found these words, the words of Jesus, to be perfectly, perfectly true. And I have not found these words to be about some "pie in the sky." Instead, I find them to be grounded in the reality of living an ordinary human life - my life.

"Ask, and it shall be given," implies that we ask for what we want in our lives. That doesn't mean things will magically appear. We will have to work for what we want. And we will have to take responsibility for what we want. If we want a safer, more humane existance than we are living now, then we will have to take the steps to get there. If we want a life free from loneliness, then we will have to look for good people to be our friend; we'll have to get out of the house and find some good people. We'll have to ask ourselves: where would I find some good people, people who will care about me? And we'll go to that place, wherever it may be.

"Ask, and it shall be given" also implies that we are not the victims of our fate.
It implies that we have the power to ask ourselves and God: "What do I want?" For most of us, that means we will have to carefully think about what we want. Do you want work that is more meaningful than what you do now? Do you want more money for what you do? Do you want your children to grow up in a caring environment, free from drama? These are all important.

We're still fairly new into this New Year, 2008. If you haven't taken the time to think about what you want, then do it now. Even looking at your calendar and marking off an hour to yourself to sit and think is a start. Then, look inside yourself and ask: "What do I want? What do I really want?"

Warmly,
meb