Dumb Requests

My kids ask for some pretty dumb things.

"I want to eat hot dogs every day and stay up all night without sleeping at all".

It's not because they're dumb - quite the contrary - they rather terrify me with their cleverness at a young age. They just allow their wishful thinking to dominate their requests in a way that places all other considerations as secondary.

They even ask for some things that would require a defiance of the laws of physics.

One of them: "I want you to make the sun go away!"
Me:  "I can give you sunglasses, or put up a shade, would you like that?"
One of them: "No, I want you to make the sun go away!"
Me: "I'm sorry, I can't do that. We'll just have to wait till it sets."
One of them: "Yes you can! Make it go away! You can!"

(Note how calm and patient I am in the dialogue - this clearly captures my typical response style and represents no scrubbing or embellishment on my part!)

Usually it's funny, but a little bothersome when I can't help them understand that what they want isn't possible and the resulting screaming that ensues (from them).

But it got me to thinking about my own requests, things I directly or indirectly ask God for.

I wonder if God thinks the things I ask for are dumb? Perhaps not, but I wouldn't be surprised if my requests and wishes are as unwise as the things my kids ask for. Maybe wishful thinking leads to some errors in my judgement, just like it does with my children.


In recent years, I've become more sophisticated, I've learned not to mention what I really want to God when I recognize how it might appear.

Funny that, as if I can really hide what's in my heart from God....but I try.

I try not to ask God to mistreat others in the same way they're mistreating me so that they can see the error of their ways.

I try not to ask God to intervene in the proceedings of the National Football League, specifically the outcomes of a particular team from Wisconsin and the cheating devils they play from other cities, who have clearly paid off every single referee in the league.

I try not to ask God to give me special treatment; to keep my kids from illnesses that other kids get, to save me from the tragedies of other people's lives, to spare me certain struggles....I try not to ask.

But deep in my heart the truth of the matter is that I want all of those things. Some of them I even expect and blame God for when they don't turn out. It really does no one any good for me to pretend. I'm not fooling God, the only one I'm fooling is myself, thinking that somehow I can pretend.

God knows my heart. God knows I want some terrible, impossible, and self-destructive things.

God knows I want the world to be unfair - but only in my favor, or the favor of those I care about. 

And this crap I try to hide, even from myself, that I'm not really a jerk like the rest of you, it does me no good, and probably ends up hurting others.

But the thing is, I kind of want my kids to keep asking, even if it is for dumb stuff.

I love that they feel secure enough in our relationship to tell me exactly what they want without fear of my answer.

I love to watch them learn to ask for better things.

So for now, my simple prayer is this:

God, help me to be honest with myself and You. 

I want some pretty bad things, and I'm tempted to just give up on asking You for things because some of the stuff I want is probably not good for me or other people. Help me to keep asking, to ask for better things, and to be transformed in the process of asking You and learning from your answers. Rescue me and others from my selfishness...or at least help me change, and help me to learn to love what's truly good, 

And if you wouldn't mind healing Aaron Rodgers' fractured clavicle, so that the team of green and gold would again take their divinely appointed place as league champions, that would be great!

(oops, sorry! Forget that last bit!)

Amen.