Ask, Seek, Knock

Gospel MT 7:7-12

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 
Which one of you would hand his son a stone
when he asked for a loaf of bread,
or a snake when he asked for a fish?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him.

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. 
This is the law and the prophets.”

Ahhh, another reading that talks about God's overflowing and abundant goodness.  Sometimes we feel so unworthy that we forget to ask for what we want.  Of course we don't get it and then we feel resentful - then angry.  The downward spiral begins.  In today's reading, Jesus urges us to ask - not demand - but to ask.  And it will be given to us.  He knows that when we have our sights set on something, we will find it.  Do we always get what we want?  Should we expect God to give us everything we ask for?  Probably not.  I think the Rolling Stones said it best:

...you can't always get what you want.

But if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need.

God, in all of His wisdom, often transforms my wants into the very thing that I need.