2-Apr-23 (Matthew 26 & 27)

What do you do when you have to do something really hard? [Wait for answers]
In today's story from the gospels, Jesus is about to do the hardest thing in his life and he does two things. First, he spends time with his friends. He didn't ask them for advice. He just spent time with them eating supper. Sometimes being with our friends helps us remember what's really important.
The other thing he did was spend some time with God, praying. This time he did ask God what God wanted him to do. It was going to be hard and he wanted to make sure he got it right. It's important to spend time with God even when we're not getting ready for something really big, but it's especially important when we know something big is about to happen. God can help us to know what to do and how to respond when things get difficult.
So, the next time you know you need to be ready, be sure to spend some time with your friends and be very sure to spend some time with God.

Let's pray about that.
God, we thank you that Jesus helped to show us how to handle the really difficult times in life. We thank you for our friends and we thank you for your love for us. Help us to come to you when we know we have some difficult things to do. Help us to know that you love us and will help us to find a way to do what is right, even when it's very, very difficult.
We pray in Jesus' name.
AMEN.