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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me make a list of everything I'm thankful for this month. Amen!


"The coming of the kingdom of heaven," said Jesus, "will be like girls who took lamps lit with oil outside to meet someone for a party. Only some brought extra oil. By the time the man got there, the foolish girls had to go get more oil. When they got back, the party had started and the doors were locked." Jesus added: "Be ready. You don't know when the kingdom of heaven will come."

November is a weird month. The excitement of Halloween is over; the excitement of Christmas hasn't quite started yet; and Thanksgiving just isn't as big a deal for kids. You're still eating leftover candy while the stores are filling up with Christmas decorations.

This week's Gospel (Matthew 25:1-13) could be about November: It's about an in-between time, a time of waiting.

In the Gospel story, servants are waiting for a party guest to arrive. They've been waiting around, bored, for a long time - so long that some of their lamps burn out. While they're getting replacements, the guest arrives and the party starts without them.

Even November is about more than waiting for Christmas: You have Halloween stuff to put away, trick-or-treat candy to eat or share - and, more importantly, Thanksgiving to think about.

Thanksgiving may not be a big gift-giving holiday, but it's a chance to have a special meal and focus on being grateful.

Some of the servants in the Gospel story forgot about that. They didn't get ready for their guest, so they missed out on the party. The guest in the story is God, who expects us to be looking for Him all the time, in everything we do and everyone we meet.

November is about waiting, like the servants waiting for God. But it's also about gratitude - for Halloween candy, Christmas excitement coming and everything in between![[In-content Ad]]

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