FEBRUARY 2007

Welcome to WWM Talk, the e-newsletter for Walk With Me coordinators and teachers. If you have any questions about information in this issue (or anything else), give us a call at 1-800-333-8300 or e-mail us.

A Heartfelt Message to You

All my daughter wanted for her birthday was a teddy bear. Seemed simple enough. Until I read the fine print from “Build-a-Bear Workshop.” A worldwide franchise that’s ten years old, Build-a-Bear is a store that lets you create a bear of your own. Determined not to buy into the savvy marketing of a store that calls its customers “guests” and its salespeople “pawsonal shoppers,”yet wanting to get my daughter the bear she desired, I reluctantly made my way to the mall.

I was welcomed at the door by a smiling “bear builder associate” who led me to a series of bins filled with lifeless, unstuffed bears. I pawed through the bins, holding up one saggy bear skin after another. Empty bear in hand, I made my way to the stuffing station, where a little white-haired lady opened her arms to hold my bear and asked me what its name was. “Uh…Chloe?” She smiled and promised to stuff Chloe so she’d be extra-cuddly, and when she was done, she let me squeeze Chloe to make sure she was just right.

“Now,” she said, “it’s time for the most important part—it’s time to choose the heart.” I reached down into the heart bin and pulled out a soft red heart. The bear builder told me that it was very important to get the heart ready before putting it inside my bear. First I had to rub it in the palm of my hand to make it warm. Next she showed me how to rub it on my nose so it could smell things, to hold it to my ears so it could hear things, to whisper to it so it would know things, to kiss it so it would feel love, and then to carefully tuck the precious heart inside.

Chloe was sewn shut and we were led to a “shower” area where I could clean and fluff her before a “pawsonal shopper” helped me choose the perfect outfit. Finally, Chloe’s name was entered into a computer and an identification tag was tucked inside her so that if she was ever lost, she’ be able to find her way home.

And as I waited under the “Guest Services” sign to pay for my bear, I thought of you—the Sunday school teachers and coordinators and helpers and leaders who gently lead our kids each week, receiving them with gentle hands and a warm smile, breathing life into God’s stories, teaching them the things God wants them to know so that someday, if they ever get lost, they’ll be able to find their way home again. Thank you for the love you show to the Davids and Tamikas and Stefans and the Chloes that God sends you each week. Thanks for appreciating the unique qualities of each child in your group (and thanks for praying about those unique qualities that can be hard to appreciate!). Thanks for devoting your time and energy into the lives of kids—so that they can know LOVE. Happy Valentine’s Day!

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