We need to be grateful....

After narrating the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, my group of 9-12-year-old children began to reflect. Lydia, 4th grade, immediately said, "We need to be grateful for what we have, and not be jealous of others. Like the children in Haiti [referring to children in the orphanage we were collecting clothing and raising money for] are grateful for food and probably not jealous of us."
The context of discussing plans to help the Haitian children immediately before the lesson nudged Lydia into a more immediate, or current, understanding of the parable than the children would usually have.