Bible Reading: Galatians 5:22-26; Colossians 1:9-14

"This is the prettiest flower garden I've ever seen!" said Nia.

Grandma looked up from her weeding. "I enjoy it too. When it's nice outside, I spend time almost every day watering, weeding, or transplanting something. It's a lot of work, but worth it." She smiled as she pulled a weed out of the dirt. "It reminds me of my life as a Christian."

"It does?" asked Nia. "Why?"

"Well, for one thing, weeds in my life can grow as quickly as weeds in my flower bed," replied Grandma.

"Weeds in your life?" asked Nia. "You mean things like problems? Like when people are nasty or you get sick or somebody you love dies?"

"Yes," said Grandma. "We experience all kinds of difficult and painful situations, and if we're not careful, they can cause us to become angry, bitter, and unforgiving. Those attitudes are like weeds with very long roots. The weeds in my garden would take over if I let them, and the weeds in my life would too."

"So how do you get rid of them?" asked Nia.

"Well, I like to think of the time I spend with Jesus as His weeding and watering time for my life," replied Grandma. "Praying, reading my Bible, going to church--those are all ways to learn more about Jesus and what He wants for me."

"I try to pray and read my Bible and listen in church," said Nia. "But sometimes it's hard."

Grandma nodded. "Sometimes I don't feel like working in my garden," she said. "But then I remember how important it is for my flowers and do it anyway, and once I get my hands in the dirt, I often find it to be a pure joy."

"So can you make flowers grow in your life by doing those things like you do in your garden?" asked Nia.

"Well, God makes the flowers grow, not me--in both my garden and my life," said Grandma. "But I can give the flowers in my life--the Bible calls them the fruit of the Spirit--a good place to grow by spending time with Jesus so I have the strength to handle any weedy situations that come along. It's well worth the effort."

–Rosalie J. Currier

Bible Reading: Genesis 1:2-5; 2:7; Psalm 33:6-9; Ephesians 2:4-10

"Look, Levi, I'm making a snowman!" cried Claire, rolling a white blob of playdough into a ball.

But her brother didn't seem to be listening. Levi was concentrating. He had spent the last ten minutes sculpting the face of a lion out of some yellow playdough. Claire had to admit, Levi's lion was pretty good. He had used a plastic knife to carve out the lion's features, and now he was working on a fiery mane.

"Looks like you guys are having fun!" said Mom, pausing at the table to view their creations. "I like your snowman, Claire! And that lion's beginning to look quite lifelike, Levi. I love the way you've twisted all those strands together to make his mane. You're both so creative!"

"Creative?" asked Claire. "I thought only God created things."

"Well, the Bible says God made people in His own image," said Mom, taking a seat at the table. "That's why we enjoy being creative. Some people like to paint. Some people like to bake. But while humans can only create things using materials that already exist, God created the universe out of nothing."

"Nothing?" asked Claire. "How can you make something out of nothing?" She waved her hands around as though trying to shape a creature out of thin air. "It's impossible!"

Mom laughed. "God created light just by speaking! And Psalm 33 tells us He created the heavenly hosts--all the stars in the sky--by the breath of His mouth."

Claire gasped. "Wow! That's amazing!"

"But when He created Adam," Mom continued, "God fashioned him with His own hands from the dust of the earth and breathed life into his nose."

Levi finally spoke. "Whoa! This lion I've been sculpting is just a model. It will never live or move. But God made a real man!"

"That's right," said Mom. "Only God can do that! And only God can give people new life. The Bible explains that because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, humans are born spiritually dead because of sin. But when we trust Jesus to save us from sin, it's as though God breathes new, eternal life into an old pile of dust. Jesus makes us alive all over again!"

Claire and Levi looked at each other and smiled. "That's so awesome!"

–Angela Jelf

Bible Reading: 2 Timothy 4:16-18

"Nick, can you come up here and hold this for me?" Mr. Manning asked.

Nick's heart beat faster as he walked to the front of the classroom. He got nervous any time he had to be in front of others.

With shaking hands, Nick took the poster his teacher asked him to hold. A minute later, he was sitting on the floor with his teacher in front of him.

"Just breathe," Mr. Manning said.

Nick did as he was told and eventually calmed down. When he looked around, he found the classroom empty. "Wait…where did everyone go?"

"They went out to recess," Mr. Manning said. "You can go too."

Nick frowned. Everyone had abandoned him, even his friends.

"Hey, are you okay?" A voice came from behind Nick as he headed for the door.

Nick turned and saw Alex, a kid he barely knew, using his hands to move his wheelchair up to him. "Why aren't you at recess?"

Alex shrugged. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I thought everyone just went out and left me." Nick sighed. "Thanks for caring."

At church that evening, Pastor John talked about the apostle Paul. "In the book of Second Timothy, Paul writes about a time when everyone abandoned him but God," Pastor John said. "Have you ever felt like that? All alone? Sometimes we don't even feel God with us."

Nick thought of how he'd felt at school that day. He had felt completely alone. He hadn't seen Alex in the corner of the room, and he had felt abandoned.

"God is always there," Pastor John said. "Whether we feel His presence or not, He is always with us."

Nick looked at the stained glass window, the one that showed Jesus hanging out with a group of children. Are you always there, God? he wondered. Even when it feels like everyone has abandoned me?

"God never abandons us," Pastor John said, as if reading Nick's thoughts. "Jesus died for our sins and rose again so we would never be separated from Him. Even if everyone else abandons us, God is with us and will help us with every problem we face. He also places caring people in our lives--sometimes ones we don't expect--to remind us we're not alone."

–Emily Acker