From the Pulpit…

Good cents

Henry Thoreau once stated that the price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. I have to confess that I’ve never really given second thoughts to spending the amount of life needed to bend down to pick up a penny, but I do pick up pennies when I see them. A penny found face up is supposed to be good luck. A penny face down not so much. I just bind whatever curse or superstition that might be on a penny and pocket it.
There are a number of people who don’t figure it’s worth their while to bother with pennies. I’m not one of them. As Benjamin Franklin wrote, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
Recently, however, I’ve been given a new perspective on these coins I pick up. A friend shared the story about a very wealthy man taking some friends out to dinner at a very exclusive restaurant who stopped suddenly and looked down on the pavement for what seemed to be an unusually long time.
Some of the man’s friends followed his gaze downward but saw nothing on the ground but a few pieces of trash, several cigarette buts, and a small darkened object that looked like a penny someone had dropped. The man reached down and picked up the penny. Lifting it up to his eyes, he smiled, and then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure.
Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at one of his friends, until she could hold back her curiosity no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.
A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. It looked like an ordinary penny. “Look at it,” He said, “Read what it says.”
His friend read aloud the words “United States of America.” “Read further.” “One cent?” “No, keep reading.” “In God we Trust?” “Yes!”
“And?” “Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It’s written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me reminding me to trust Him. Who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I stop and take a moment to reflect to see if my trust is in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it’s God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!”
This week, I found several pennies in the parking lot on the way to a meeting. When I bent down to pick them up the words, “In God We Trust” jumped out at me.
It occurred to me that I have been doing a lot of “In John I Trust” recently. I smiled. Yes, God, I got the message.