We’ve all had questions we needed to ask,
Some are average or even mundane,
A few are tolerable by the hearer,
But when you get to important questions?
I call this “The Big Ask.”
Ask for help, a raise, a date, or a hand in marriage.
A commitment is needed, and some never respond.
But we ask anyway. We’ve all done this.
For some, with trepidation, we wonder if there will be an answer
At least one we can accept, or will we feel rejected?
Recently, someone asked a series of these big ticket questions.
It’s not someone we know, so think what you want.
But the questions were real (I think), the parameters established, and the failure to answer,
Well, you won’t be considered a solution for their future inquiry.
You can always ask…
But you may not always get an answer.
Or if an answer is provided,
You may not like the response.
Maybe it was the boldness of the questions.
Perhaps it was the sharing with others you don’t know.
Or was it even the negative spirit you read into the words?
I suspect the petitioner will not receive the answers they are searching for.
Then, I paused to consider.
Perhaps there are questions some would ask of me.
From those I know who have a genuine desire to find an answer.
Do I build barriers to questions? Do I skirt the issues and answers?
If I don’t know the answer, will that satisfy the searcher?
I pray I’m bigger than this.
Any question must be okay, right?
Not so fast. I believe there are questions we don’t ask.
Some answers are nobody’s business.
And that’s the Big Ask that goes nowhere.
One of these days, I’ll learn the difference.
The question that deserves an answer will be asked.
I pray that there will be no snub, as I feel to give the questioner.
Ask the right question right, and you’ll always find your answer.
Most questioners know the basics: Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why.
But my research often wants to know the reasons behind the answers.
Why did Eve have that dialog? Why didn’t Adam stand up to the challenge?
Why did the Prodigal leave? What was the moment he decided to return?
When we finally make it, will we remember the hurts and sorrows of here?
Did I do all, or did I barely make the grade?
Perhaps the biggest ask? Did I love abundantly?
Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching,
that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by,
who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed,
whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.
And when they could not find how they might bring him in,
because of the crowd,
they went up on the housetop
and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.
When He saw their faith, He said to him,
“Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying,
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them,
“Why are you reasoning in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’
or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’?
But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—
He said to the man who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on,
and departed to his own house, glorifying God.
And they were all amazed,
and they glorified God
and were filled with fear, saying,
“We have seen strange things today!”
(Luke 5:17-26 NKJV)
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