This first meeting together with the group will set the tone for the year. Make sure you have done all the advance preparation and reviewed the session plan. Have supplies set out so you will be relaxed and can smoothly move from one activity to the next. Practice the songs and games so you can confidently lead them.

Take time before the session and find a quiet place for reflection. Imagine your own nervousness when joining a group for the first time. Do you hang back? Talk too much? Feel impatient, or feel immobilized by concern? What makes you feel comfortable and safe? Reflect on the ways you feel. Then imagine the ways the preschoolers may feel. What needs do they have that you might meet?

Finally, reflect on love as the theme of the first session. How is pure love a part of your spiritual make-up? Love can relatively easy to say aloud but difficult to keep in the center of our being. Most young children have experienced pure love and are familiar with it within their families. Can you make love a centerpiece for your reflection?