I was invited to share a message at an elementary Christian school, and I walked in expecting what you’d expect with kids, some energy, a little distraction, some fidgeting. But almost right away, I realized this was going to be different. This wasn’t the first time I had been invited to this particular school to share chapel time around Valentine’s Day and they were looking forward to the unexpected.
I introduced them to “Dr. Lovell,” a slightly quirky professor there to teach about the heart. That got a few smiles and a few laughs, just enough to pull them in. We started with the basics: what the heart does, why it matters, how something about the size of your fist can keep your whole body going. Simple things, but important ones. They had remembered Heartly, a heart on a string that I had brought the previous year and were looking forward to his return. Knowing he was returning with Dr. Lovell added anticipation to the message.
They were paying attention, mostly. So, I started with what I had prepared knowing that Holy Spirit would add His thoughts as the instruction moved forward. .
Along with Heartly, we made the parallel between how the heart regulates the flow of the blood in our body to how our love for Jesus regulates the frequency in how often we share Jesus with others. Just like the heart is the source of life for the body, Jesus is the source of life for us.
We practiced a phrase together, adding motions to help it stick: “Love lives when we share Jesus.” At first it was just repetition. Then it became something more. They said it louder, with a little more confidence each time, like they were starting to believe it and commit it to memory.
The object lesson is where everything came alive. I had a basket labeled JESUS containing heart themed pencils, nothing fancy, just simple little reminders. One student came up, took a pencil, and then took two more to give away. Then those students came up and did the same thing. And then more. And more. Before long, the room was full of movement. There was something exciting about the whole scene, kids moving, smiling, participating in what felt like a game but beneath it all was a truth that carried real weight: God’s love was never meant to stop with us.
They were figuring out how it works. You receive, you go back to the source, JESUS, and you share. That’s it. Just one person telling another person about Jesus.
What stood out to me wasn’t just that they understood it, but that they realized they could actually do it right now at their age. My prayer was that they were already thinking about who they were going to give their pencil to as they shared the message about Jesus. It is my heart’s desire that they realize, ‘The greatest way to show someone you love them… is to tell them about Jesus.’ Then I challenged them to have the heart and the courage to give the message of Jesus away.
As I walked out, I kept thinking about what might happen next. A conversation on the playground, a quiet moment with a friend, a small step that feels big when you’re a kid. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just one person, then another, because love doesn’t just sit still—it moves.
Love lives when we share Jesus.