EVERY HAIR ON YOUR HEAD

Jesus, teach me to teach other people how much you love us all -- even the hair on our heads! Amen.

"Even a sparrow can't die without God knowing about it," Jesus taught. "And you're worth more than a lot of sparrows! Every hair on your head matters to God. So let others know that you believe in God; then, I will be with you."

How high can you count? A lot of kids claim they can count to 100,000, and that's probably true -- but, if you actually try to do that, you quickly get bored. You count faster and faster, mumbling all the numbers, and then you lose interest. Who wants to count that high, anyway?

Guess how many hairs you have on your head? About 100,000 -- a number so high, it's almost impossible for a kid to count to. But this week's Gospel (Matthew 10:26-33) tells us that God cares about every single hair!

Saying you can count to 100,000 is showing off, but not in a bad way. When Jesus says that God cares about every hair on people's heads, that's also a way of "showing off;" Jesus is trying to show that God loves people in the biggest way anyone can imagine.

Counting to 100,000 also means you're pretty smart. You have to know a lot about numbers to even think you can count that high! In talking about God loving all 100,000 hairs on everyone's heads, Jesus also meant that God knows a lot about people. God knows every single thing about every single person in the world.

When someone knows you and loves you that much, what should you do about it? Jesus' advice was to pass it on: He said to tell other people about God so they'd feel God's love, too -- from the tips of their toes to every hair on their heads.

(06/19/08)