April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
GOOD NEWS FOR KIDS
DEPEND ON GROWNUPS AND GOD
Jesus, teach me to stay as close to you as I do to all the adults who are important in my life! Amen.
Jesus told all His followers that He came from heaven. Many didn't believe Him and even stopped following Him. Jesus asked the Apostles, "Are you going to leave me, too?" "Where would we go?" Peter answered. "We know that you came from God."
Even though you can't wait to grow up, you depend on your parents and other grownups a lot right now. When you hear about kids who have lost adults who are important in their lives, you want reassurance that it will never happen to you -- that there will always be someone to take care of you.
God will always be there. Even if an adult in your life has a problem and can't be as helpful as usual for a while, there will be others -- and God will never, ever disappear, even when you're all grown up yourself! This week's Gospel (John 6:60-69) promises that.
The Gospel story actually explains it the other way around: Jesus is teaching people new things about God, and because they don't understand, a lot of people get upset with Him and stop listening. Jesus is the one who sadly wonders if even His closest friends, the Apostles, will leave Him, too.
When you get nervous and need reassurance that the adults in your life will be there for you, it's because you want connections. You want to be sure there's someone around who's strong and knows how to do things you're still learning. Jesus leaned on God the Father; the Apostles leaned on Jesus.
One thing you might forget, though, is that connections go both ways! You want adults around in your life, and they want you around. We know that's true because even Jesus wanted reassurance that His friends would stick by Him.
Adults will be there for you, and so will Jesus![[In-content Ad]]
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