Don't have a meltdown

Jesus, help me to sleep when I need to, so I don't have a meltdown! Amen.

"I have much more to tell you, but it will be too confusing right now," Jesus told His followers after a long day of teaching. "When the Holy Spirit comes, He will explain everything I've said to you, so you'll understand it better. Then you'll be closer to God."

What are you like when you get really tired? Some kids react to being tired by getting giggly and silly; others get really quiet.

But, for a lot of kids, getting overtired means having a meltdown: Nothing is okay with you; you're angry and teary and miserable.

In this week's Gospel (John 16:12-15), Jesus seems to sense that His followers are about to have a meltdown. He's been teaching them all day, trying to pack in as much information about God as He can; but the Apostles are exhausted and can't take much more.

When you're overtired, you can probably feel a meltdown coming, too. You get upset over little things, and nothing seems to be going right for you. You keep feeling like you're going to cry.

At times like that, the best thing to do is to stop everything! There's no point trying to have more fun or get more things done; you're too tired to enjoy it. It's better to sleep for a while, so you wake up in a better mood. Your body and brain need to recharge.

That was obviously true for Jesus' friends. Jesus knew He was going back to heaven soon and wanted to prepare all of His followers to carry on without Him, but they could only learn so much in a day.

So Jesus stopped everything. He told His friends to take a break, that they would just get confused if He kept trying to teach them more. He also reassured them that the Holy Spirit would keep on helping them, even after He was gone to heaven.

Jesus knew there would always be more time to have fun and learn new things. It's not worth having a meltdown!