"And what can I do for you today?"

“And what can I do for you today?”

That question is the typical response from my husband whenever he answers the phone.

With a lilt in his voice, even though that word would probably embarrass him to hear, he’s pleasant and sincere. He wants to help. He listens. And he doesn’t tell the person on the phone what he’s going to do for him or her until he hears the answer to the question: “And what can I do for you today?”

He does it gently, too, most of the time. And gentleness in a manly 61-year-old voice is endearing. Many times I stand within earshot waiting to hear, “And what can I do for you today?”

Once I asked him why he didn’t say that to me. Most days, I don’t think I give him time to ask it! I’ve got an endless list of things I want him to do for me!

I thought about that this morning when I read 1 John 5.

John was telling those “who believe in the name of the Son of God” that they could know, not just hope, that they “have eternal life.” And then John continues, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.”

The will of God.

“And what can I do for you today?”

A wonderful way to begin my day with God.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him”

(1 John 5:13-15 NIV)