What makes a good visit

Jesus, help me enjoy my visits with friends, whatever we do! Amen.

Jesus stopped to visit His friends Martha and Mary. Martha was nervous about seeing Him and ran around cooking food, but her sister Mary didn't help. She just sat at Jesus' feet, listening to everything He said. Martha got angry and said, "Jesus, can't you make her help me?" Jesus answered, "You worry too much. Mary knows what's really important, and I won't yell at her for choosing it."

Hanging out can be totally different for kids than grownups. When you go to a friend's house, the two of you might do cannonballs into the pool all afternoon. "Watch this!" and "Cool!" are about all you say to each other.

A lot of adults, though, think a "good visit" means sitting and talking all afternoon. They might sit by the pool and never go in!

Just because someone's way of hanging out is different doesn't mean it's bad. That's Jesus' message in this week's Gospel (Luke 10:38-42).

When Jesus visits Martha and Mary, each of them has a different idea of what makes a "good visit." For Martha, it's all about the food; she wants to cook, serve snacks and make sure her friend Jesus leaves with a full stomach. Mary just wants to talk with Him -- which isn't a problem, until Martha complains.

After you've been in the pool with a friend all afternoon, you feel happy and satisfied. You swam so much that your fingers are pruny! You can see that your mom and your friend's mom are happy about their visit, too, even though they didn't swim. The important thing is that everyone had a good time, whatever they did.

Martha was not having a good time with Jesus. She may have liked to cook, but she was running around worrying about food instead of cheerfully serving it. Mary, on the other hand, really enjoyed just listening to Jesus.

A good visit is about making choices that feel right for you. Jesus could see that Mary was happy with her choice to chat -- and that made her a good person to hang out with!