Arise and Shine in Many Little Ways

Last Saturday, we gathered once again for the Teachers’ Dedication Service organised by the Christian Preschool Alliance. This was our eighth year holding the service.

Every year, as we approach this event, the same question seems to surface: Should we continue doing this? There are always so many competing demands. Everyone is busy. There are urgent matters in our own organisations that need attention. And sometimes, it can be discouraging when something we believe is important seems to rest on the shoulders of only a few people.

"Yet somehow, every year, God reminds us why these moments matter."

This year, Methodist Preschool Services (MPS) took the lead in organising the service. What touched me was not simply how well the programme was organised, but the spirit in which it was done.

Behind the scenes, I saw the Executive Director of MPS personally preparing tokens of appreciation for the many people who had helped. I saw her moving around, making sure that things were in order and that people were taken care of. These may appear to be very small things, especially when we know that she, too, carries many responsibilities in her own organisation and has her own battles to fight.

Yet for that moment, she gave her attention fully to what was before her.

It reminded me of something easily forgotten in leadership and ministry: we can see every additional responsibility as another burden, or we can see it as another opportunity to serve. Sometimes the difference is not in what we are asked to do, but in how we see it.

A small token. A word of appreciation. Making sure someone is cared for. Saying thank you.

Perhaps this is how we arise and shine, in many little ways.

Arise, Because His Glory Is Upon Us

The message that morning centred on the familiar words from Isaiah 60:

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”

I was struck again by the order of those words.

We are called to arise because the glory of the Lord is upon us. And because His glory is upon us, we can shine. But the light is not really ours. Our shining is a reflection. We are reflecting something of who God is, His goodness, His love, His mercy, His grace and His faithfulness. We do not arise so that people will see how wonderful we are. We arise so that, somehow, through us, people may catch a glimpse of how wonderful God is.

"That thought brought me back to the name Little Olive Tree."

Throughout Scripture, the olive tree is associated with God's blessing upon His people. That is what I hope every Little Olive Tree preschool can be: a little place in our community where people can encounter something of the goodness and blessing of God.

Yet in the busyness of preschool life, it is easy to forget this.

We see the manpower shortages, difficult conversations, regulatory demands, unhappy parents, conflicts, deadlines and endless problems to solve. After a while, instead of looking like a fruit bearing olive tree, we can begin to look like a tree that has weathered one storm too many, tired, worn and defeated.

Perhaps that is why we need to hear again:

"Arise and shine."

Not because everything is easy. Not because we have everything under control. But because the glory of the Lord is upon us.

A Lesson Remembered Many Years Later

The pastor then shared a story that brought this message to life.

Many years ago, a little girl attended the kindergarten at Bethesda Bedok Tampines Church (BBTC). Like thousands of children who pass through our preschools, she sat in a classroom and listened to her teacher. Her teacher taught her a very simple truth: Jesus loves you. And when you need help, you can turn to Him.

Years passed.

The little girl grew up and became a mother herself. But life became extremely difficult. She reached a point of such deep despair that she contemplated ending her life. Yet she had a young child whom she loved, and she could not bear the thought of leaving her behind. She did not know where else to turn.

Then, somewhere from deep within her memory, something surfaced. She remembered what her preschool teacher had taught her all those years ago. Jesus loves you. When you need help, turn to Him.

And so she went back to BBTC, the church where her preschool had been.

The pastor who first encountered her was puzzled. She was not a member of the church and had not been worshipping there. So the pastor asked her a simple question: “Why did you come here?”

Her answer was that she remembered her kindergarten teacher telling her that Jesus loved her and that she could turn to Him when she needed help. Eventually, a lady pastor came to speak with her.

And when the mother saw her, she exclaimed:

“You are my teacher!”

The person now standing before her to help her through one of the darkest moments of her life was the same person who, many years earlier, had planted that tiny seed in her heart. What could that teacher possibly have known when she taught that little girl? It may have been just another ordinary day in preschool. Another Bible story. Another lesson. Another child among many children.

But God remembered.

The child remembered.

And years later, that little lesson became a light in an extraordinarily dark moment.

How many such seeds have our teachers planted without ever seeing what became of them?

The Little Girl Who Just Wanted to Come

Then there were the children from Little Olive Tree, Foochow Methodist Church, who were preparing to read Scripture during the service. Naturally, their principal was anxious. When our children stand before a congregation filled with representatives from different Christian preschools, we want them to do well. Will they remember their words? Will they become nervous? Will they behave themselves? Will everything go according to plan?

We want to present our best. But one little girl reminded us that perhaps we were looking at the wrong thing.

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She lives all the way in Punggol, yet she kept telling her mother and her principal that she wanted to come. She wanted to be there. She wanted to read the Scripture.

Eventually, her parents agreed to make the journey, to bring her there and then bring her home again.

For this little girl, it wasn't about whether she would perform perfectly. She wasn't worrying about what people would think if she made a mistake. She simply wanted to come. She wanted to read God's Word.

There was something beautifully uncomplicated about that desire.

And perhaps this is what Jesus meant when He pointed us towards the faith of a child. The Kingdom of God is not always found in impressive performances or grand achievements. Sometimes it is found in the simple eagerness of a little girl saying: “I want to be there.”

When I saw the children reading Scripture that morning, I realised that this, too, was arising and shining.

Not putting on a good show. Not making Little Olive Tree look good. Simply children offering what they have to God.

In Many Little Ways

Looking back, these three moments from the morning somehow came together for me.

An Executive Director quietly preparing tokens of appreciation.

A preschool teacher telling a little girl that Jesus loves her, never knowing that those words would remain in her heart for years.

A child travelling from Punggol because she simply wanted to be there to read God's Word. None of these things is particularly spectacular. And perhaps that is precisely the point.

We often imagine that to arise and shine must mean doing something big. We look for the major programme, the impressive outcome, the visible success or the story everyone will talk about. But perhaps much of the Kingdom of God is built differently.

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A word spoken.

A child encouraged.

A teacher who stays a little longer.

A parent who is listened to.

A colleague who is thanked.

A Bible story faithfully told.

A little girl who simply wants to come.

We may never know what God will do with these moments.

The teacher at BBTC certainly could not have known that a lesson taught to a preschool child would become an anchor many years later. Neither can we know what will become of the hundreds of little encounters happening in our preschools every day.

"Our responsibility is simply to be faithful with the moment God has placed before us."

Perhaps this is also why, after eight years, the Teachers’ Dedication Service continues to matter. It reminds us that what we do is more than a job, more than a programme and more than running a preschool well.

We are planting seeds whose fruits we may never see.

We are little olive trees, ordinary, sometimes tired and weathered, but nevertheless called to bear fruit and to be signs of God's blessing wherever He has planted us.

So let us arise.

And let us shine.

Not necessarily in spectacular ways.

But faithfully, joyfully and hopefully,

in many little ways.