—Matthew 7 : 7

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With a bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the large rock across the sandbox by using his feet. When he got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the wall.

Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.

The boy grunted, struggled, pushed and shoved. But his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing into his chubby fingers.

Finally he burst into tears in frustration. All this time the boy’s father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy’s father.

Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?”

Defeated, the boy sobbed back, “But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength I had!”

“No, son,” corrected the father kindly. “You didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me to help you. All you had to do was ask.”

With that the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.

People often struggle, like the little boy in this story, to accomplish things on their own, but if they fail in their task they abandon their efforts in frustration. Scripture says: “Two are better than one for if you fall down the other can hold you up.” ( Ecclesiastes 4 : 9 ) We need others to help us, especially our Heavenly Father. Ask anything in His name and He will grant it. Anything, that is, which does not contradict His word. Too often, we limit our potential because our faith is weak. Shake off the burden of doubt that holds you down and reach out to Him with fresh faith.

Your Heavenly Father wants to help you more than anybody else in this world. All you have to do, when in need, is ask Him.

“Ask,” Jesus says, “and you shall receive.” ( Matthew 7 : 7 )

—Provided by Fr. Hugh Duffy.