What do you want?

Jesus, help me narrow down my choices and make the best decisions for me! Amen.

A blind man named Bartimaeus heard Jesus passing by and yelled, "Jesus, have pity on me!" "Shut up!" people said, but he yelled more. Finally, Jesus said, "What do you want me to do for you?" "I want to see," said Bartimaeus. Jesus told him: "Your faith has saved you." Suddenly, he could see! So he got up and followed Jesus.

Some kids like making quick decisions. They'll open a restaurant menu and say, "I want the hot dog and fries," and that's it; they'll look at a pile of homework, grab a book, and start right in on an assignment.

Other kids take their time. Everything on the menu looks good; how can they decide? Homework isn't fun; who wants to pick something and plunge in?

In this week's Gospel (Mark 10:46-52), Bartimaeus has to make a quick decision. He's been begging for Jesus' attention for quite a while, and then Jesus finally says, "What do you want?"

Bartimaeus has to think fast: Jesus can help him in a lot of ways, so what does he want most?

If you're a kid who has trouble making decisions, it helps to narrow things down. Are you in the mood for something spicy? Then your menu choices are chicken wings or pizza. Do you like to get hard assignments over with, or save the hard stuff for last? That will help you figure out which homework to do first.

Bartimaeus made a decision pretty quickly. He told Jesus, "I want to see." But that decision led to another: What was Bartimaeus going to do with his life now that he wasn't blind?

Bartimaeus didn't study the menu too long on that one, either. He looked at his list of choices, threw everything else away and followed Jesus.