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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me "water" my faith to make sure it has deep roots! Amen.

Jesus told a story: "A farmer went out to plant seeds. Some seeds fell on the path and birds ate them. Some fell on rocky ground and grew quickly, then died because they didn't have deep roots. Some fell into weeds, where they grew but then got smothered by the weeds and died. But some seeds fell on good ground and gave huge crops." He finished by saying, "Whoever has ears, hear this."

It's summer - time for gardens! Do you know anyone who has a garden? Any gardener will tell you that you can't just throw seeds in the ground and expect to get lots of flowers and vegetables. You have to water them, pull out weeds and keep animals from eating the plants.

For a good garden, you also need to plant the seeds deep enough, but not so far down in the ground that they can't grow.

The same is true for people. In this week's Gospel (Matthew 13:1-23), Jesus talks about plants. He tells a story about a farmer who plants seeds everywhere - but not all of them grow well. Some plants don't grow at all; some grow and then die quickly. The ones that are well cared-for, though, give lots of fruit, vegetables and other crops.

Like plants, people need deep roots - in faith. If you think of God as just someone to give you stuff you pray for, you won't have faith that will help you get through hard times. You'll just be mad that God didn't make everything turn out the way you want it.

Faith with deep roots is like a plant with deep roots: It's cared for. People with a lot of faith pray often and think not just about what they'd like God to do for them, but what they can do for God by worshipping God, being grateful for what they have and helping other people.

In Jesus' story, He's the farmer and the seeds are our faith. You can let it be like a garden plant you forgot to water, or you can pay attention to it, because you want good results from it. Deep roots are good for plants and for people![[In-content Ad]]

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