Ask The Question

Ask the Question

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

A family friend had just had a new baby, so I offered to bring them a meal—my standard, easy-to-double baked ziti recipe, along with salad, bread, and a dessert. I asked Tim to drop it off after work one day, and he mentioned it in passing to a friend.

“How did you convince them to let you bring them a meal?” the friend asked Tim incredulously. “I talked to them about having people from church bring meals after they had the baby, and they said no!”

Tim didn’t know the reason, and when he asked me I could only shrug. “I don’t know,” I said, noncommittally. “I just asked them.”

Sometimes, in life and in friendship, it’s as simple as that—asking a question, sometimes more than once. Maybe our friends weren’t comfortable with a multiday meal train that required coordinating schedules for drop-off, or maybe I simply caught them at the right moment.

Whatever the reason, in friendship, you and I can’t accomplish the things we’d like to if we don’t bother asking in the first place. If I’m honest, there have been many times when I didn’t ask a question, even though I should have. I’ve refused to verbalize a question in class or at work at the risk of sounding silly or uninformed; I’ve avoided asking a friend about a questionable life choice they were pursuing because it felt uncomfortable; and I’ve refused to open myself up and ask an acquaintance to coffee or lunch because I feared rejection. Yet Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock. All of those actions require us to face a situation with bravery, knowing that rejection is a real possibility. Yet I believe it’s when we’re willing to face our fears that we find, oftentimes, the doors we feared were closed to us are already open. It’s possible that a friend is already on the other side of that question, just waiting for you to have the courage to ask.

— Kristin

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Be brave and ask a question—whether it’s asking an acquaintance out for coffee, a friend if she needs help, or a coworker if they could offer their opinion on a project.