Soon we are sitting on our carpet squares, ready to hear God's story of Abraham and Sarah. Then we're feeling the sand in the desert box and moving God's miniature people across the terrain. What did God's people eat in the desert? How did God sound when God told Abraham about the stars? Abby, Erin and Lia enter this story for the very first time.

Their grandmas hear the story for the 50th ... 60th time? No matter how many times the grandmothers have heard the story, this time will be different. This time they'll watch the story unfold on their granddaughters' faces. Three preschool girls pat the sand that is now the desert; move around the little people who have become Abraham and Sarah; and wonder about the stars, the animals and God's voice. Two loving grandmothers twinkle in the sky for Abraham and Sarah to imagine.

No matter how many times throughout their lives Abby, Erin and Lia hear this story of Abraham and Sarah, this time will be different. Not just because it's the first time but because the fringes of their carpet squares touch those of their grandmothers. Today they are hearing the story with two women who made an unshakable commitment to bring them to Sunday school and pass on the faith.

In The Gift of Years (BlueBridge , 2008), author and Benedictine nun Joan Chittister reflects on older adults and their legacy: "We leave behind for all the world to see the value system that marks everything we do. People who never asked us directly what we valued in life never doubt for a moment what it was. ... They know the depth of our spiritual life by the way we treated those around us and what we thought of life and what we gave our lives to doing."

In our Sunday school class, God has shared a message of love and eternity, just as sure as God shared a message with Abraham and Sarah in the desert sand. A seasoned hand enfolds a little hand, and it matters.