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PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me use my imagination to dream big and work to make those dreams happen! Amen.

"I am the bread that came down from heaven," Jesus said. The people answered, "You're a person, and you're from this town, not heaven!" But Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. People who believe in me will live forever with God in heaven."

"I'm Batman!" you yell, charging around the room. You might even have a mask and cape, but you know you're not Batman. You're using your imagination!

The people Jesus met in this week's Gospel (John 6:41-51) might have thought He was using His imagination when He called Himself "the bread of life." More likely, though, some of them thought He was making it up to get attention, or that He was sick because He thought He was from heaven.

Using your imagination is great. It can even help you reach goals: If you imagine yourself as a black belt in karate, for example, you can work hard until you become one. At every practice session, you picture yourself wearing that black belt, until you've earned it.

That might have been a little like what Jesus was thinking. Other people didn't know yet that, at the Last Supper, He was going to start the practice of people sharing His body and blood -- what we call the Eucharist or communion. Jesus was correct in calling Himself "the bread of life," but they didn't realize that!

Of course, it was silly for people to protest that Jesus wasn't from heaven, too. Everyone grows up in a certain city or town, but everyone also comes from God. Again, people just couldn't see yet that Jesus was really the Son of God, so He definitely came from heaven.

There are kids who make things up for bad reasons, but using your imagination is mostly great. Jesus wasn't imagining things when He said He'd come from heaven to help everyone else get there someday -- and you can imagine what heaven will be like![[In-content Ad]]

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