A few days ago, I went fishing with my daughter. She is my fishing buddy and loves to hang out with me while we try to catch anything we can. She usually likes to throw her bobber at the turtles to see if they will play with it.
This time we had a small net to catch some baitfish and minnows. This little net is pretty fun but for a six-year-old, it’s tough to be patient long enough to actually catch anything. She kept pulling the net up to see if something was in there. Over and over, she asked, “Can I check it now?” To help her keep it in the water, I started asking her questions to keep her mind off the net.
We talked about mom and her brothers along with turtles and snow cones. Then she got really quiet and waited patiently. I was proud of her. After about fifteen minutes, I told her to pull up the net.
As she pulled up the net and saw the little fish flopping around, she screamed. She was so excited. She said, “I asked Jesus to give us some fish, and He did!” During her few moments of quietness, she was praying and asking the Lord to please give her some fish. All I could do was smile as she said over and over, “Dad, I prayed, and Jesus gave us fish. How cool is that?”
Her childlike faith in this moment reminded me that Jesus cares about our small requests.
Sure, I could have sat her down and taught her about not prayer about stuff we want or I could have gotten into some theological discussion about whether or not Jesus actually cares about us getting fish. What my girl saw that day was that Jesus is real. He heard her. That is something I never want her to grow numb to. I want her to always take any and all requests to Jesus.
For me, and for most adults, our skepticism can keep us from seeing Jesus in the small stuff. Here are three questions that I have been asking myself after seeing my daughter and her fish.
- When is the last time you talked to God during menial tasks?
- When is the last time you got excited about spending time in prayer?
- What small request do you have? Have you taken it to the Lord?
