Column by Allison Borthwick, Opinion Editor

“Ask and you shall receive.”

This is a phrase we probably all know well. It’s a common rewording of Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find.”

I, however, always heard a not-so-slightly different version of this notion.

“Don’t ask, and you shall receive,” Dori Borthwick said, all throughout my childhood.

She probably added the “don’t” right around the time my sister and I were old enough to torment her in the grocery store, as a retaliation to our demands for toys and candy.

Her method of thinking was probably something like, “I see what you’re saying, Matt. And I respect it. No offense to you or Jesus, but I don’t think you guys had sugar-crazed children in mind when you published that in your global best-seller. So, I’m just going to do my own thing.”

If I received everything I asked for in life, especially as a sugar-crazed child, my little sister would have been “sent back,” my diet would have consisted exclusively of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and I would have dropped out of school by third grade to pursue the life of a kitten.

You know, because the Bible told me so.

And I still have high hopes for those last two dreams.

But, alas, my mother changed the game and I, for years, thought that if I just wished for something to happen without asking for it, it would indeed happen.

I learned the hard way that this doesn’t really apply to everything.

For instance, I apparently can’t expect my significant other to know I really want Mexican food for dinner when I say, “Doesn’t matter to me! You pick.”

I also can’t sit on my couch for the next month watching episode after episode of “Bob’s Burgers” in the hopes that I’ll get my dream job without applying for it.

I can’t wish for a candidate to be the President of the United States and not vote.

What I think my mom did mean, however, was, “Don’t be selfishly expectant and you will probably be rewarded.”

Put good energy out, get good energy back – that sort of thing.

I don’t know what kind of good I put out there, but I have gotten a lot of good things in my life without asking for them.

I got gifted with the talent to perfectly execute Mario Kart’s Rainbow Road.

I got an uncanny ability to recite the entirety of both “Ace Ventura” movies.

I got to live in a world where penguins, kittens and Johnny Depp exist.

I got a family that continuously shows me how to laugh and love.

I got a stone-cold pack of weirdos – friends who constantly bring tears to my eyes with their insane senses of humor and their thoughtfulness.

I got a job I never thought I would apply for, let alone thrive in for the past year.

I never thought I would be Opinion Editor of The Murray State News, but it’s an opportunity I received anyway, and I am very grateful.

I got a work family that showed me that true talent requires insatiable drive and undeniable goofiness.

I got an opportunity to have a lot of feelings.

I couldn’t have asked for a more rewarding job or for more brilliant coworkers, and I couldn’t be more grateful that I received both.

Thank you for reading.