Ask a child, "Who usually drives you to sports practice or your friend's house or to the movies?" And they'll reply, "Mom or Dad."
Ask them where they get their clothes and toys. And they'll reply, "My Mom or Dad bought them for me."
Youngsters know they receive all this from their parents. Even if they don't always seem grateful, they know it for sure.
But when we grow up, we begin to think otherwise.
We think that the things we possess are all our own because we earned them. We forget that they came from God. we can cling to our "stuff". We don't share because we think our stuff is all ours.
We receive the sunshine and gentle rain and life itself and food and so many good gifts every day - and maybe never once thank God for all of them.
That is what Jesus was getting at in this Gospel passage. Everything comes from God and belongs to God.
The person who realizes that everything comes form God (the way little children realize that they get everything from their parents) - will be great in the Kingdom of God.
- Little Burgundy Book, Diocese of Saginaw