Simply Ask

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:1-14

It is Easter Monday. Living Holy Week and Easter can be a challenge. The passion and the drama we can overlook or we can truly be drawn in and enter into the true suffering and shame that it is to be human. The last week has been a challenge for me as my body was fighting a bug and there was always too much to do. But yesterday morning as folks walked, one by one, to put daffodils on an empty cross, I realized anew that prayers get answered and resurrection happens. God is with us in the darkness as well as the light.

Jesus is talking with his disciples about life after life. They really don't get it and neither do we. We have enough trouble seeing past the daily hurdles, the tasks and trials that face us. We just want life to become a bit easier. God understands our broken humanity, our short sightedness and our limited-ness. God desires for us to ask for what we need, to ask for what we don't deserve, to ask for the full measure of God's blessing in our lives. God was willing to sacrifice completely for us so there are no longer any barriers to full relationship with God. There is room in God's arms for everyone. Everyone.

Today I ask God to help me to as. Sometimes we get s busy with tasks and challenges we forget to simply ask. Today, may we talk to God about all our needs, trusting that God's desire is to make possible the impossible, to make whole the totally shattered, to bring life today to the hearts which have died.