More Than We Ask For

Readings 121925 

My granddaughter is six years old.
She is an only child.
And she told her mother that all she wants for Christmas
is a new house
and a baby sister.

Not a brother.
A baby sister.
She really, really wants a baby sister.

It’s up to her momma to explain that one.

Children have a way of asking for what they want
with pure confidence.
No hesitation.
No calculation.
Just desire spoken aloud,
as if the world is waiting to answer.

And sometimes, I wonder—
isn’t that the kind of faith Jesus meant
when He said,
“Unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Scripture is full of longing.
Manoah’s wife, barren and waiting,
suddenly hears the angel’s voice:
“Though you are barren and have had no children,
yet you will conceive and bear a son.”

Elizabeth, advanced in years,
hears Gabriel’s promise through her husband Zechariah:
“Your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.”

In both stories,
God answers longing with life.
He answers barrenness with promise.
He answers waiting with joy.

But notice this—
the children given, Samson and John,
were not just gifts for their parents.
They were consecrated from the womb.
Born for mission.
Born to prepare.
Born to deliver.
Born to turn hearts back to God.

My granddaughter’s request for a baby sister
is innocent, sweet,
and maybe impossible.

But her longing reminds me of a deeper truth:
every child is more than a wish fulfilled.
Every child is a sign of God’s faithfulness.
Every child carries a mission,
even if we do not see it yet.

Elizabeth once said,
“So has the Lord done for me
at a time when he has seen fit.”

So maybe the lesson is this:
our prayers,
our longings,
even the ones spoken with childlike simplicity,
are heard.

They may not be answered as we imagine.
But they are gathered into God’s plan.

And when His time comes,
the answer is always
more than we asked for.

This Christmas,
my granddaughter wants a baby sister.

What do we want?
What do we dare to ask for?

And do we believe—
that God, in His time,
will answer
with more than we imagined.

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Prayer

Lord of promise and fulfillment,
You hear the longings of Your people.
And You answer with life,
with joy,
with mission.

Teach us to trust—
to pray simply,
to believe deeply,
and to wait for Your time.

This Christmas, hear our prayers,
and grant us grace to know
that Your answer is always
more than we imagined.

Amen.