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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me learn the difference between dandelions and real "weeds!" Amen.

"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 farmer 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.'"

Dandelions are signs of summer. The bright yellow flowers spring up everywhere - and while most kids like to pick them, many adults see them as pesky weeds that make the backyard look messy!

This week's Gospel (Matthew 13:24-43) is about weeds growing in the middle of good stuff: in this case, weeds that spring up in a field of wheat, which is the grain we use to make things like bread and cereal.

When farmworkers find weeds in the field, they're ready to pick them, just like a lot of adults are quick to pour weed-killer all over their lawns to get rid of the dandelions.

Kids know the dandelions aren't hurting anything. The farmer in the Gospel story believed something like that, too. He said to leave the weeds alone, so pulling them up wouldn't hurt the good wheat. When the wheat was ripe and it was time to pick it, the workers could just pick everything and throw the weeds away.

The farmer in the story is Jesus. If there's any value to a weed, Jesus would be the one to find it, like a kid sees dandelion "weeds" as beautiful flowers to make into a bouquet.

If a weed is just a weed, you can always pull it out. The real "weeds" in Jesus' story are bad people. Jesus said that, in the end, they'll get pulled out: They won't go to heaven![[In-content Ad]]

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