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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me lean on you when there's a mess I can't fix. Amen!


"I am the good shepherd," Jesus said. "A good shepherd will give up his life to save his sheep. A paid worker will let a wolf eat the sheep, because he doesn't own them. But I know my sheep and they know me, and I'll die for them. All people will hear my voice and become like one flock of sheep with one shepherd."

Some kids' rooms are a mess. You can hardly walk across the floor because of all the school papers, stuffed animals and junk; you're always getting told to clean up, put your laundry in the hamper and throw some things away. Other kids have really neat rooms - or, even if the room is messy, you know exactly where everything is!

This week's Gospel (John 10:11-18) is about knowing where everything is, even when things seem like a mess. Jesus talks about the life of a shepherd.

Animals let outside will roam all over the place. If you put a flock of sheep in a field, they won't stay together in a neat group; they'll scatter like papers all over a kid's messy room.

But, just like you may know where everything is in the mess, the shepherd keeps track of all the sheep. They may be all over the field, but he remembers where they've roamed so he can find them and bring them home at the end of the day.

In the Gospel story, Jesus is the shepherd and we're the sheep. He doesn't stop people from living life, going anywhere we want and doing whatever we want - but He does keep track of us all.

Whether your room is messy or neat, what matters is that you can find what you need when you need it. Jesus hopes the same will be true for people: that, wherever we roam and even whatever religion we choose, we all rely on God and make Him our "shepherd." Jesus can make any mess neat again![[In-content Ad]]

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