Bible Reading: Genesis 3:1-6, 17-19; John 1:29

"Thank you for helping with the pie, Lizzy!" said Grandma. The four-year-old beamed.

"What about me?" eight-year-old Henry asked, showing his grandmother the pie he'd made out of playdough.

"It's adorable." Grandma moved the apple pie to the back of the stove. "Lizzy, while the oven is heating up, why don't we go pick some green beans from the garden?"

"Okay!" Lizzy replied.

"Henry, are you going to come with us?" Grandma asked.

"I want to make pies," Henry replied, playdough in hand.

"Okay, we'll be outside for a bit then. Please don't touch the apple pie," Grandma said as she followed Lizzy outside.

After dinner and devotions that evening, Grandma served everyone a slice of apple pie. "Lizzy did wonderful today being my helper," she told Grandpa.

Lizzy beamed as she picked up her fork. "I like helping!" As she put a bite of pie in her mouth, the smile disappeared. "Yuck!" she exclaimed. "It's all full of salt!"

Grandpa tried a tiny bite. "You're right, Lizzy-girl, this does taste like a salt pie."

"Well!" Grandma looked at the pie. "How did that happen? I know I put the right amount of salt in."

"Henry, you're quiet," Grandpa noted as he looked at the boy.

Henry sighed. "I'm sorry, Grandma. I tried to put sugar on top of the pie so it would be extra yummy. But it wasn't sugar, it was salt. Now the pie is ruined."

Grandpa chuckled. "This reminds me of what we read in Genesis. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit, the curse of sin entered the world. And just like the salt in this pie, we can't fix it and get rid of the sin on our own. We need Jesus's help with that."

"He died on the cross so He could take all our sins far away." Lizzy frowned. "Is he going to fix the pie?"

Grandpa grinned. "One day He's going to fix the whole world! Then all sin will be gone forever."

"In the meantime, He gave us lots of apples on our tree so we can bake another pie." Grandma smiled. "This time, I think I'll have two helpers."

-Kimberly Brokish