God’s Loving Pencils

Five-year-old Marcus is afraid of going to his first day of kindergarten. His friends from preschool are going to a different school and he’s worried no one at kindergarten will like him. His mother reassures him there’s no reason to be afraid because God is always with him. She then gives him a set of bright yellow pencils, each printed with different words: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. She tells Marcus that her own mother gave them to her when she was also afraid to go to kindergarten. Her mother told her whenever she felt afraid to look at her pencils and know God was always with her. She explained all this to Marcus, who begins to smile. He is no longer afraid because he knows God will never leave him.