Time to just share...

Look, all of you are flawed in so many ways, yet in spite of all your faults, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to all who ask!  (Luke 11:13 VOICE)

Jesus just didn't mince words when he addressed his disciples or the religious leaders of the day.  He was approached one day by his disciples, just after he had finished praying.  Their request - teach us to pray the way you pray.  His instruction - get close to my Father and just share with him.  In essence, he points them first to the importance of the relationship - for all good communication really starts with the relationship.  Then he turns them to the specifics of the types of things we might want to bring to God as we communicate with him in an attitude of prayer.  It isn't so much that we kneel, raise our hands, or even than we remember all the "dear God" phrases.  It is that we open our hearts so we begin to bond in relationship with the one who cares so deeply for each one of our needs.

He makes mention of this attitude of being one who maintains the relationship despite the difficulties one might imagine which could come between two people when they are struggling to communicate.  We are all human, so having a little difficulty knowing what to say, how to say it, or even when the time is right to actually communicate our heart can sometimes be a little unnerving.  We want the closeness, so we get right up to the edge of being willing to open up like we should, then we back down a little - we don't persevere. As much as we longed to share what was in our hearts, we just didn't ever get to that point. Jesus wants to show his disciples there is nothing wrong with asking, nor is there anything wrong with expecting.  These are both part of relationship.

At this juncture, he takes a moment to remind us of the importance of asking - something we don't always do very well.  We "skirt" the issue which is really burning in our hearts, either because we don't think God would see our need as important, or because we don't believe God would ever meet our need.  He sets it up with a reminder about our own "flawed state" and yet our ability to meet the needs of those we love in a human sense.  If we are capable of being compassionate toward another's need, reaching out to meet it in some way, isn't it quite possible we serve a God who can do this in much bigger ways?  

Yes, Jesus was speaking about his Spirit - being given to those who will ask.  Yet, in a bigger sense, he is reminding each of us to just talk to our heavenly Father.  To enter into open, not too deep or "religiously right" words, but to share our hearts in a genuine sense.  I think we miss the boat anytime we just struggle to "find the right words" when it comes to sharing with our heavenly Father.  You see, no words are wrong - because as long as we are opening our heart, the words don't have to be perfect, they just have to be real.  Just sayin!