Have you observed someone with a far-off gaze and said to them, “a penny for your thoughts?” It will snap the person out of their mental reverie and bring them back to the moment. Maybe you have seen someone on the street and described them as “not having two pennies to rub together.” A bad penny was a person who was a troublemaker and should be avoided. If memory serves, males were primarily bad pennies. Sage wisdom was and still is, “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Should I comment on penny ante poker
There is a penny idiom I had not heard until I started the in-depth research for this article. I am going to adopt the saying, “I felt like a penny waiting for change.” It is descriptive of so many of the things that happen in life.
We don’t think too much about pennies. They are valueless. When I’m given change, I place the pennies in that little tray by the cash register. There is not much you can do with a penny. I’m not sure that a gumball can be had for a penny. Yet, it costs $1.83 to produce one penny. This is an insane example of our tax dollars at work. I’ll let you mull that one without my comment.
Jesus was sitting outside the temple one day watching people give their offerings. (He still is in case you are wondering.) The big givers were coming by putting money in the bowl. Their money was coinage, and the different metals made a different sound as they fell in that bowl. One could tell what was being given by the sound it made dropping into the bowl. You can test this theory on Sunday, even our coins make different sounds when dropped into the plate. Of course, a few years ago, folks caught on to the audible offering tracking method and began lining the offering plates with felt. The felt cuts down on the distraction of coins going into the offering plate. Another place I will let you mull without my commenting.
That day all the big givers, making all that noise with their coins then a widow walked up to the offering bowl. That widow was about to do something that Jesus noticed.
This widow gave one penny. The penny was called a mite. It was all she had. Sit with that one for a minute. It was all she had, and she gave it to God. The mite was so small it made no sound in the bowl. In terms of temple giving, it was insignificant. It was only a big deal to her and to Jesus.
Her story of sacrifice and generosity has been told for two millennia. The widow’s penny has become famous, because of its association with Jesus.
Maybe in the economy of God we are all pennies. Our significance is found when we give ourselves to God’s purposes.
A penny for your thoughts!
