---

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, teach me to look at the big picture when I'm struggling with a project! Amen.

Jesus talked about His death, saying, "Unless a piece of wheat dies, it's just a piece of wheat. But if it dies - if it's harvested and made into food - it helps many people. I'm worried about dying, but that's why I came into the world. When I'm lifted up to heaven, I'll pull everyone on earth closer to me."

It is so frustrating for a kid to work on a project that just isn't coming out right! You have an idea in your head of how cool your artwork is going to be, but then the yellow marker doesn't work and the colors get mixed together and you spell something wrong - and you start crying. You wanted it to be beautiful, but it's a mess!

Whether you're building a birdhouse or coloring a giant picture, big projects take a lot of work and patience - and the biggest project ever finished was Jesus saving the world. In this week's Gospel (John 12:20-33), He talks about how complicated that was.

Imagine a crayon sitting on a desk. Until you color a picture with it, it's a stick of colored wax. When you use the crayon, that waxy color becomes part of a picture; when you work slowly and carefully, the picture can be beautiful, complicated and huge.

Jesus used a similar example: a piece of wheat. When wheat is growing in a farmer's field, it's just a brown plant. When it's harvested, ground up and made into flour, it can become bread, cereal or a bunch of other important foods.

Even people are projects. Jesus gave Himself up to be crucified: His body was used up like you use up crayons or a farmer harvests wheat. But just like a beautiful picture or a loaf of bread comes out of that "using up," Jesus' death saved the whole world.

When a project isn't coming out well, it's easy to get frustrated. Next time, try to think of the "big picture," like Jesus did. If you're patient, it will all come out OK in the end![[In-content Ad]]

---