Did you watch the Perseid meteor shower this week? Aware that Wednesday evening through Thursday morning was the best time to see hundreds of meteors—often called “shooting stars"—dash across the sky, I was ready. But clouds covered the sky all day Wednesday. As the sun set, I hoped the clouds would clear, but they hung heavy.
As I crawled into bed, I set my alarm to 2:00am, hoping to wake and find clear skies, but the night sky was still veiled by clouds. At 3:00am, I looked out our back window—no change. But this time, I walked toward the front of the house and peered out to find a small window of open sky. I could see a handful of stars. I watched for a few moments before seeing one faint shooting star. A few minutes later, a bright, beautiful meteor streaked across the sky. Over the next twenty minutes, I counted five meteors. My eyes were growing heavy and I knew it was time to return to bed, but I prayed, “Lord, can I see just one more?” After a few more minutes, another meteor shot across the sky. I smiled and returned to bed.
Have you ever wanted “just one more” of something? Sometimes this desire can get us into trouble. Just one more scoop of ice cream might give us a stomach ache. Just one more minute of screen time might stretch to more minutes and gobble up more of our day than we intended. But it’s a good thing to want more of things that are beautiful, good, and true—like the splendor of God’s creation. Wanting just one more hour to play outside is healthy. Wanting just one more worship song, moment in prayer, or Bible story is wonderful.
Psalm 37:4 (ESV) says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” This verse does not mean God gives us everything we want. Rather, God knows what is best for us. As we seek God, what we want will line up with what he desires for us. When we ask for “just one more” moment with him in the morning, experience with him in creation, or a reminder of his love, he’s happy to grant us those desires. God won’t always answer our prayers exactly as we want him to, but that’s a good thing, because he knows far better than we do what we need. We can trust him for “just one more” mercy, and then another after that. Our “just one more” requests never exhaust the abundant love of our heavenly Father.
