Ask, Just Ask

“No, Mom I can do it myself!”

Who hasn’t heard that from a toddler before?

As I read in the Magnificat last night the reflection really hit home. It was all about letting God help us. In the reflection the writer compares parents trying to help an “independent” toddler with God trying to help each one of us. For me it was the perfect analogy.

As a toddler learns by doing things themselves, they also learn by failing to do things themselves. Although, a spilled glass of water or mismatched clothes might not be THAT big of a deal to a 3 year old. When we as parents step back and look at it we see that it’s not THAT big of a deal either, however, it would be so much easier if only they’d ask for some help. Maybe they’d even learn the “right” way to do some of the things they seem to do over and over and over.

God looks at us in much the same way as we look at our children. He WANTS to help us, but we don’t always do a good job of asking for His help. So often we try to do something and fail over and over and it’s only after we’ve “given up” that we ask for God’s help. Why do we think we have to perform before God will help us? Don’t we have faith enough to believe that God will help just by us asking?

It’s time we start realizing that God loves us for no other reason than because we are ourselves. We need to be more willing to ask for help and healing. We need to open our hearts and truly listen to God. We must be open to receiving God’s help, because just like parents ache to help their children God yearns to help his children.