Have you ever noticed how hard it is for kids these days to get their dads’ attention? In our smartphone, bring-work-home, screen-staring world, the average son has to wear his father down with many words. “Dad. Dad. Daddy. Dad! Hey, Dad. Look, Dad. Dad!” Maybe after babbling for a bit, his father will look up from his pixels and pay attention to his kid.

Our Father is not like that. Just before giving us the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7,8). The pagan people of Greek culture believed that the gods were busy and didn’t like to be bothered.

But the one true God is infinitely better than that. He wants to be interrupted. He wants you to knock on his door. He wants you to call upon him in your day of trouble and cast all your anxiety on him and keep asking him for the Holy Spirit. He is not an earthly father with a limited attention span but a Father in heaven who can’t wait for you to open your lips and ask him for every good and perfect gift.

So pray. You don’t need to repeat “Father” to get his full attention. What a promise! What a gift!