KEEPING IT TOGETHER

Do you own a lot of stuff? You’re not alone. Lots of kids have closets stuffed with clothes and toys all over their bedrooms.
With so much stuff, it can be hard to find what you need. If it’s that crowded in your room, you might wonder about something else: The world is pretty crowded, too. In the middle of so many people, how does God keep track of the good ones?

This week’s Gospel (Matthew 13:24-43) has the answer.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who
planted wheat in his fields,” Jesus taught. “When
his workers founds weeds growing in the wheat,
the man said, `If you pull them up now, you
might pull the wheat up with them. Wait until
harvest time, and then you can pull everything
up and throw the weeds away.’”

When you’re trying to get ready in the morning, all the stuff you own gets in your way. You try to pull one shirt out of the packed dresser drawer and four more come tumbling out with it!

In the Gospel story, Jesus talked about God watching over the world like a farmer watches over fields of wheat. Like you can’t pull just one shirt out of your dresser, Jesus said a farmer couldn’t pull weeds out of the fields without ripping out good crops, too.

The weeds are like bad people in the world; the wheat is the good people. God lets everybody grow together. Then, when people die and it’s time to go to heaven, God separates good ones from bad.

Even if the world is crowded, God doesn’t want to pull any people out of it too soon. That’s one way the Gospel isn’t like your room: If you have too much stuff, you can get rid of some. Then you’ll be able to take one thing out without messing up all the others!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, teach me to keep only what I need! Amen.