While walking in my neighborhood, I passed by a rock on the curb. I stopped and went back a couple steps to pick it up. It definitely looked like a heart shape. The next day at our office building, there was a table of squishy hearts to take one as a free giveaway. I also found a woven paper heart in the closet with our art supplies. These are a few different objects that are heart-shaped, but they look quite different from one another. The squishy heart is smooth and soft, and it is easy to hold in your hand and squeeze. The paper heart is cleverly made by weaving two colors of paper together. The rock is rough and dusty with lines and jagged edges.

She is a petite woman who wears the cutest shoes, so how did she come to share about Jesus with a big rig truck driver? Linda Cooper, national WMU president, tells the most amazing stories about opportunities she has had in sharing the gospel with others. Once on a flight home from an overseas missions trip, a refugee family sat next to her on the plane. They were coming to the United States to be resettled. Though they spoke no English, by the end of the flight Linda had befriended them and they understood that she knew Jesus. Another time as she parked her car and started into the dental office where she works as a dental hygienist, she noticed a semi-truck was broken down in the parking lot. She spoke to the driver to offer help, though she did not know what she could possibly do to help out. Through their conversations that day, she shared the gospel with the driver and told him about Jesus’ love.

One evening as I pulled into the church parking lot on my way to teach Mission Friends, I prayed, “Lord, Help me to just love our preschoolers tonight. Help them to see Your love in me.” I always want my preschoolers to enjoy learning about missions.

One of the big milestones in a preschoolers’ life is when he takes his first steps. We will even ask a parent, “Has he learned to walk yet?” We bend down, hold out our hands, and urge the little one to step toward us. Sometimes we stand behind him and hold his hands so he can step toward others. Learning to take those steps is important as preschoolers grow physically.