Angela's Picture

TEXT: John 14:2-3; Revelation 21:10-12,18-23

"Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Jesus is coming
For me and for you."

Angela sang while she colored a picture. She was having fun visiting at her grandparents' house. Grandma was washing the lunch dishes and Angela was keeping her company.

"Where did you learn that song?" Grandma asked.

Angela looked up from her coloring and giggled. "Oh, I just made it up, Grandma. Do you like it?"

"It's very pretty, Angela," Grandma replied.

Angela continued to hum the tune of her little song as she worked on the picture she was coloring. When Grandma finished the dishes she dried her hands and sat down at the table.

"What a pretty picture of the world!" she exclaimed to Angela.

"Oh, no, Grandma, this is not the world I'm drawing. It's Heaven." Angela started pointing to different things in the picture. "Those are the streets of gold, and these are the gates of pearl. And there's God's Throne, and Jesus is there too. I'm going to draw some angels now," she said.

"Grandma, help me think of some other things that are in Heaven. I'm going to give this picture to my friend, Jodi. She's never heard about what Heaven is like. And when I tell her that Jesus loves her and is preparing a beautiful place for her, maybe she will come to Sunday school with me. Then she can learn even more about Jesus."

"Well," said Grandma, "how about the beautiful River of Life? That will certainly be a wonderful thing to see."

''Yes, it will," Angela said. "That will look really good in my picture."

Just then Grandpa walked into the kitchen. "What's that you're drawing Angela?" he asked. "It sure looks pretty."

Angela smiled, "It's Heaven. Grandma is helping me think of some other things that I can add to this picture. You can help too, Grandpa."

"I know something that will add a special touch to your picture," Grandpa said. "It is the Lamb's Book of Life. If you use a very fine pencil you can even write in some names."

"That's a good idea," Grandma exclaimed. "Then you can tell your friend Jodi that when a person is saved, Jesus writes that name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Someday Jesus is going to come back to earth again. He is going to come for all the people whose names are in His special Book. If your name and Jodi's name and Grandpa's name and my name are written in that Book, Jesus will take us to Heaven to live with Him forever."

PARENT'S CORNER

This lesson on Heaven concludes our unit in which we have used the colors black, white, red, green, and gold to outline God's plan of salvation. See if your child can tell you what each color represents.

To reinforce the themes taught by the colors, make a set of shapes from construction paper. Include a small and large square, rectangle, circle, and triangle from each of the five colors.

Let your child use these shapes to put together something symbolic of each of the lessons we have studied during the unit. Then let him explain to you what he has assembled.