Ask and Ye Shall Receive, Or Not, Or Kind Of...

Over the past few weeks/months, I've been learning a great deal about the power of asking.  I realize that this may be nothing profound to the majority of people, but it's been a fun learning experience for me.

I've heard it said that the answer to an unasked question is always "no."  Well, sometimes the answer to an asked question is also "no", but sometimes, it is "yes" and sometimes, it is "I would if I could, but I can't", which I consider mostly the same as a yes.

Cases in point for each of them:

-I have regaled you before with the tale of the boy who I liked and a house that I liked and the boy fell in love with another girl and got engaged but then broke it off and bought the house that I liked.  Well, for several months, he and I spent time around each other in a variety of circumstances.  It was great, so after a few months of this and realizing that at some point, we needed to decide whether or not we could/should date, I took the plunge.  I spent a lot of time pondering and writing (I write some pretty awesome things when I set my mind to it) and talking over it.  Then when I posed the "Hey, let's take a crack at this, what do you think?" question, this time, the answer (via text, which is a whole other convo for another day) was "No."  And that's okay.  But, it would always be no if I never asked.

-I have greatly admired this woman for a long time.  Her speaking ability is marvelous and she just seems like such a neat person.  In my church meetings, I had been discussing with other leaders the idea of doing a fireside for our youth.  I wanted to shoot for the moon.  So, acting on the advice of another friend on how to contact various speakers, I did a little digging (and by a little digging, I mean I have impressive googling skills which I used) and found her home phone number.  I called her and she and I were able to speak and I told her what I wanted.  This time, the answer was "Yes"- wahoo!  I am helping work on the logistics now and am very excited for the great youth with whom I work to hear her speak.

-My grandma passed away on Saturday morning.  While it was a good thing, I am still sad, in large part, because my dad has lost his mom.  As I spent time with my dad this weekend and talked to him about the funeral plans, he mentioned that he wanted to use part of a talk by this man in his funeral remarks.  Dad has a copy of the talk on cd.  I thought I could listen and transcribe the talk, but then I realized how long that would take and, partially out of laziness and partially out of wanting to spend my time other ways, decided to take a chance and email Bro. Top and see if I could just get a copy of the talk.  So I did, explaining what I wanted and why I wanted the talk.  He very kindly responded a short time later.  This time, the answer was "I would if I could but I can't"- alas, he is in Russia for a few days and doesn't have access to his files.  Otherwise, he said, he would have gladly shared the talk with me.  He did, however, point me to a book that is an extended version of the talk, which Dad and I went and purchased yesterday.  I call that a win.

I have determined, because of each of these experiences, that I need to ask for more.  Not in a greedy way, but when I have a desire/question, I need to stop being so afraid of asking.  I know that sometimes, the answer will be yes, other times, no.  And that is all okay- as long as I keep asking.