The baby was born in late spring. Every day when his mother came home from work, she would put him in his stroller and take him for a walk. They loved to walk around the pond and look for ducks. She would say, “God made the ducks. Thank You, God, for ducks.”

“My friends, stand firm and don’t be shaken. Always keep busy working for the Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile” (1 Cor. 15:58, CEV¹).

Do you know your multiplication tables? We had to memorize those lists when I was in grade school (which is NOT as long ago as you think!!!). You started with the zeroes (0 x 1, 0 x 2, 0 x 3 . . . ) which was supremely easy since the answer was zero! We had to memorize all the numbers between one and twelve, multiplied by 0–12. When you reached the end to learn that 12 x 12 is 144.

What other words express what it means to show God’s love unconditionally? With a quick search in a thesaurus for the word unconditional, some other words that came up were total, unrestricted, unreserved, unobstructed, unhindered, and limitless. The word that caught my attention, though, was unqualified. Usually we think of a person who is unqualified as someone who is not equipped or untrained for a position. For example, we might think a person is unqualified for a job position because she does not have the training, skills, or experience to do that particular job. Without a background in that field, the person is unqualified.

“He called a little child to him and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’” (Matt. 18:2–5 NIV¹).

The longer I work with preschoolers and children, the more I realize their benefit to me in knowing God more. I often think about all the things I need to teach them to help them follow Christ when, in fact, they are teaching me! Certain things I notice about preschoolers remind me of the example of Christ.