One Thing At A Time

"If your hand makes you sin, cut it off," Jesus said. "It's better to go to heaven with one hand than to have two hands and not get into heaven. If your eye makes you sin, take it out. It's better to enter heaven with one eye than to have two and not go to heaven."

Kids hardly ever do just one thing at a time. You're texting friends in between doing homework (or the other way around); you're riding in the car to football practice while playing your DS - and maybe even listening to your iPod, all at the same time!

You think you're paying enough attention to everything that it's no problem to do three things at once. But in this week's Gospel (Mark 9:38-48), Jesus talks about getting rid of some distractions.

As a smart kid, you probably can manage to finish your homework while texting. You might even justify it by saying you can text a friend a question if you don't understand the assignment. 

On the other hand, how much attention is your homework really getting if you're waiting for a reply from a friend? The conversation you want to have is going to get a lot more attention than the homework you didn't choose to get assigned to you.

Jesus' point was that you need to pay attention to what's really important. He didn't literally mean to cut off body parts; He meant that, if your "eye is annoying you" by wandering to the TV when your dad is talking, cut that out! A smart kid like you can understand when your father needs more attention than the TV.

If you do stop one thing to focus on another, it's true that you'll miss out on a text message or two. But if (to use Jesus' example) it's "better to go to heaven with one hand" than keep two and lose heaven, it's got to be better to do homework now and text later. 

Keeping your eyes on what's really important also means you're not worrying about doing three things at once. That means you can relax a little!

(09/24/09)