Thank you, Jesus

What do you say in your prayers at night? Do you say the "Our Father" or ask God to bless everyone in your family? Do you ask for things you want or just talk to Jesus about your day?

For Jesus, prayers always started with "thank you." He was the Son of God, so He knew how much God watches over people, even when they're having problems. In this week's Gospel (Luke 17:11-19), He talks about that.

As Jesus traveled, He met ten men who had a skin disease. "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" they called. Jesus told them, "Go see a priest" -- and as the men were leaving, they saw that they had been healed! One man went back to Jesus, shouting his thanks to God. "Ten men were healed," Jesus said. "Where are the other nine?" He told the man, "Go, your faith has saved you."

Some kids pray the same way every night: "God bless Mommy and Daddy and my brother and my goldfish, and please let me get that big teddy bear I saw in the toy store. Amen!"

That's probably the way the men Jesus met prayed: "God, heal my sickness. Amen." Their disease was catching, so they couldn't live around other people. All they could think about was getting well.

When Jesus healed them, only one man came back to say "thank you." One man remembered that what was more important even than getting well was paying attention to the Son of God, who paid attention to him!

It's easy to forget to say "thank you" to God in your prayers, especially if some bad things happened today. If your goldfish died and your brother was mean, you don't want to say, "Thank you for this great day!"

But that's just what Jesus wanted. Like He told the ten men, something good happens in every day -- and when it does, we have to remember who to thank!

Jesus' prayers might have sounded like this: "Father, thank you for making me. Thank you for another day to be alive. Even if it was hard, I learned some things, and I'm glad I can start again tomorrow. God bless everybody, and please give me what I need! Amen."

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, thank you for everything -- and please let my prayers be more like yours! Amen.

(10-08-98)

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