Signs are everywhere

Jesus, teach me to think about all the signs I see every day! Amen.

"At the end of the world, the sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will fall from the sky," said Jesus. "Then I'll come back and gather all the good people in the world. When a tree grows leaves, you know summer is coming. When you see the signs I talked about, know that God is coming."

You see different kinds of signs every day of your life. If you're riding in a car and there's a red light ahead, you know all the cars will stop.

If the kids in your class are acting up and your teacher stands in front of the room with her arms folded, you know it's a sign that she's not happy and you'd better calm down!

Signs can be helpful in understanding what we're supposed to do. Imagine roads without red lights, or classrooms where kids yelled all the time! No one would get anything done.

In this week's Gospel (Mark 13:24-32), Jesus talks about serious signs that will tell us when the end of the world is coming. If you see those signs some day, Jesus said, you'll know He's coming back soon.

Some signs are clearer than others. That red light always looks like a red light, so cars know they should stop. But your teacher might have to stand with her arms folded for a few minutes before your class starts to understand that means "settle down." She could just be standing like that because she wants to, right?

Jesus wanted the signs of the end of the world to be clear. There's no other time that the sun and moon go dark and stars fall all at once, so if those things happen, we'll know Jesus is coming!

Jesus gave us clear signs for another reason: so we wouldn't worry all the time about the end of the world. If it happens, we'll see it coming. In the meantime, we can try to live good lives -- and worry about other signs, like that teacher standing with her arms folded!