Play! Listen! Talk!

What’s something important you’ve lost recently? How did you feel when you realized it was missing? Were you frustrated because it was something you lose all the time (like me—I can NEVER find my keys), or were you panicked because losing it was an emergency? When we asked kids yesterday what things their parents have lost, we heard all kinds of answers: keys, cell phones, important papers, jewelry, money, sunglasses—even the car! (I’ve done that, too—parked the car and completely forgot where it was!)

But talking about lost items was easy compared to talking about “lost” people. Even though all our preschoolers have probably been lost from their parents at one time or another, we wanted to help them understand what it meant to be “lost” from God. So as we told about the woman in Luke 15 who celebrated when she found her lost coin, we talked about how God is glad and celebrates when we become part of His family. I don’t know how much these little ones got it, but my prayer is that the message of God’s love for them and His excitement when they are “found” will be remembered and built on Sunday after Sunday. And just to emphasize the message today, as kids left we gave each one a chocolate coin: “Here’s a reminder of today’s Bible story. You are more valuable to God than any coin. He wants you to be part of His family!”