Treasures around you

If you wonder why some people always find money and others don't, this week's Gospel (Luke 16:19-31) gives us a kind of answer: You'll notice a lot of things, if you look for them!

"A poor man named Lazarus used to sit by a rich man's door, hoping for table scraps to eat," Jesus said. "The rich man never gave him anything. Then both men died, but only Lazarus went to heaven. The rich man begged God, `Send Lazarus to help me!' But God said, `You had good things while you were alive, and Lazarus didn't. Now, he can have them, and you can't!'"

Just like that, when the rich man in the Gospel story didn't go to heaven, he wondered why Lazarus did. He thought Lazarus was lucky.

Kids who find money on the ground might sound lucky to you. But the truth is, they find money because they look! They probably notice all the things around them: the blue sky, the ants crawling on the ground -- and the quarter someone dropped.

The rich man in the Gospel story wasn't like those kids. He had a living person right under his nose -- Lazarus, who sat next to his door every day -- and didn't even notice he was there. He ignored Lazarus, and so he didn't get rich -- he didn't go to heaven.

The next time you wonder why someone has something that you don't, ask yourself what good things they might have done to get it. Paying attention to the world around you can mean finding a penny -- or going to heaven!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me see all the people and things around me! Amen.