Give everyone a chance

By KATE BLAIN- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

Crabby people can be scary. You know you're supposed to be nice to the old man who lives next door, but when you say "hello," he just turns the other way. You go to see your great-grandmother, and she yells that you're making too much noise. You wish all the mean people in the world would disappear!

You might want to get rid of crabby people, but Jesus wouldn't. In this week's Gospel (Luke 13:1-9), He talks about giving everything, from trees to people, a chance to grow and change.

"A man had a fig tree in his orchard that never gave fruit," Jesus said. "He told his gardener, `Cut it down.' But the gardener said, `Sir, leave it for one more year, and let me water and fertilize it. Then maybe it will give fruit next year.'"

Crabby people never seem to have anything to give, whether it's treats or just being nice. Your great-grandmother who yells at you probably doesn't offer you cookies when you visit, either. You might wonder why people like that are even around!

The tree in the Gospel story is like a crabby person. It never had any fruit on it, and its owner said that if it never gave him anything, why should he leave it instead of chopping it down?

Sometimes, Jesus taught, trees don't give fruit because they haven't had enough water, sun or fertilizer. They just need a little attention to grow. Jesus was really talking about people: Maybe your mean neighbor and your great-grandmother are sick or lonely, so they don't treat you very well because they feel yucky inside. They don't have any "fruit," any good things, to give.

If water and fertilizer help a tree grow, attention helps people, too. Instead of giving up on crabby people, Jesus was saying, be nicer to them. Wave to your neighbor; hug your great-grandma.

It might take a while before your work helps them grow, but Jesus said to give everyone a chance -- trees, gardens and even crabby people!