I heard an advertisement over the holidays last year in which a boy was having issues with Santa Claus. It seems the boy had asked for a BB gun the year before, and Santa had given him a water pistol.

The boy was disappointed, and angry. He felt Santa was obliged to give him what he had asked for.

"Ask and you will receive," Jesus tells his followers in today's Gospel reading. "Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds."

While it is comforting to know that everyone who asks receives, we're not promised that we will always receive what we asked for. Sometimes we ask for a BB gun and get a water pistol. Of course, parents might give their child a water gun instead of a real gun because they know the child isn't ready for that kind of gift. Just so, we may not receive exactly what we ask for when we look to God for assistance.

"What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?" Jesus continues. "Or hand him a scorpion with he asks for an egg?" The good news is that God is eager to give good things to us, and we are encouraged to ask for what we want.

We can ask for wealth. We can ask for love. We can ask for popularity. God wants us to express our desires, our concerns, our hopes and our dreams. But we are not promised just what exactly we shall receive.

"How much more," Jesus concludes, "will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" God will not give us a scorpion if we ask for an egg. Nor will God give us a scorpion if we ask for a scorpion. God promises to fill our lives with good things, but unfortunately we don't always ask for what will bring us the richest form of happiness.

I've asked for so many things I haven't received - jobs, relationships, money, health for myself and others. I've wondered why I don't receive what I ask for. Rarely do I ask for the eyes to see how God is answering my prayers, perhaps differently than I had imagined.

And rarely do I find myself asking for what God promises to give us - the Holy Spirit. We are challenged to ask, seek and knock. And we are challenged to welcome what God gives us.

God is not, after all, like Santa Claus. For some reason, I continue to approach God with something akin to a Christmas list of wishes. I ask for what I want for myself, my friends, my family, my community and the world. Today's reading reminds us that there is nothing wrong with asking for what we want. We're told to ask. We're promised we will receive.

If we're open to God's response, we might just find that we are receiving far more than what we asked for. We might receive the Spirit of God.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.