You're a great kid

Jesus, teach me to be helpful even when no one notices. Amen!

Jesus heard the Apostles arguing. "What are you fighting about?" He asked. They were ashamed, because they'd been arguing over which one of them was the greatest. Jesus told them, "If any of you wants to be first, he has to be a servant to all."

"You're a great kid," someone tells you. Whether you helped the person fix something or you won a prize, it's usually something you did that made the person say you're great.

But what really makes someone great? In this week's Gospel (Mark 9:30-37), Jesus overhears the Apostles arguing about who's the greatest one of them. We don't know what they were saying, but they might have been boasting about the months they had followed Jesus, the way He trusted them and the ways they had helped people.

Kids sometimes think they're great if they're good in school or sports, have lots of friends, help people out or win a contest. But Jesus would probably tell you the same thing He told the Apostles: Being great isn't about listing all the cool things you do.

In fact, if you start making lists like that, you'll end up focusing on doing things that make you look good, instead of doing things because you like to or because other people need the help.

Jesus didn't mind people being proud of themselves, whether they're kids or even Apostles. He just didn't want people being good only to get compliments. Really being great, Jesus taught, is about being a servant: helping people out just because they need it, even if they don't notice what you did or call you a "great kid."

Sometimes, the greatest people don't even know how great they are!