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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me push myself to share when I don't feel like it!  Amen.

Jesus was eating at a friend's house when a woman came in who was known to be a big sinner. She washed Jesus' feet with her tears, dried them with her hair and put expensive lotion on them. People complained that she had wasted the lotion, but Jesus said, "She has shown great love. Her many sins have been forgiven."

Sometimes you get tired of adults telling you to share. You want to keep your own toys, clothes and snacks for yourself. You don't mind sharing sometimes, but do you really have to be generous all the time?

This might be disappointing, but Jesus would say, "Yes, you do." In this week's Gospel (Luke 7:36-8:3), someone shares generously with Him and people try to stop her, but He stops them!

Learning to share is hard. It seems unfair that you get toys for your birthday and you have to let other kids play with them, too, even though they were presents given to you.

But Jesus was a big fan of sharing. In the Gospel story, He met a woman who had made lots of mistakes. She wanted to make up for that, so she was really generous with Jesus: She washed His feet (which had to be dirty, because people went barefoot or wore only sandals then), dried them with her hair and put fancy lotion on them.

The crowd was upset when she used up expensive lotion on Jesus. They said she could have sold it and given the money to the poor instead - but Jesus disagreed.

As hard as it is to share, Jesus always reminded people that we're here to help each other. He wanted us to share even more when we're feeling like we don't want to, or when people might judge us.

Share when sharing is hard. Share things you want for yourself. Help other people to be happy. For the woman Jesus met, the reward was more than His thanks: He forgave all her sins, and she could start over with a clean slate![[In-content Ad]]

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