A happy drawing

"I HATE art!" you yell, coming home from school. "No matter how many pictures I draw, I NEVER get a gold star, and my pictures NEVER get hung up on the board! I'm never going to draw again!"

Jesus would really know how you feel! He met people all the time who felt like things were too hard for them. Praying didn't make all their problems go away; so just like you don't want to draw, they wanted Jesus to leave them alone! In this week's Gospel (Matthew 5:1-12), we hear Jesus' answer.

"Be happy if you have to work hard to stay close to God," said Jesus. "God's kingdom, heaven, belongs to you. Don't worry if you're sad; God will comfort you. Be happy if you're humble and want to follow God; God will be close to you. Be happy if you forgive other people; God will forgive you. Be happy if you work for peace; you'll be called children of God! Even if people hurt you for believing in God, be happy, because you'll go to heaven."

Just like you get sick of drawing, the people Jesus taught were sick of praying. You might draw lots of pictures and never get a gold star; they said lots of prayers, but they were still poor and had problems!

Remember when you loved to draw? You didn't worry about gold stars then; you just had fun. In the Gospel story (we call it the "Beatitudes"), Jesus said to do the same thing with praying: Even if you feel far away from God, do it anyway. Remember that your problems didn't always feel so big and awful, and trust that God's taking care of you and things will get better.

You know, Jesus probably wouldn't get a gold star for drawing. That's because He'd be too busy having fun. Jesus would even color outside the lines!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, teach me to try everything, even when it's hard! Amen.

(10-29-98) [[In-content Ad]]