Penny Parable [sharing]

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“Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously towards others, the way God lives toward you,” Mth 5:48.

“What I’m trying to do here is get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving,” Mth. 6:31.
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I had just finished reading Purpose Driven Life; one of my all time favorite books. Rick Warren speaks of tests God places in our path to bless our faithfulness if we take Him up on it. He noted that God is always testing our “character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty. Words like trials, temptations, refining and testing occur more than 200 times in the Bible…Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test. You are always being tested…your response to people, problems, success, conflict, illness, disappointment, and even the weather!” p. 42-3.

I was intrigued. The boys and I had conversations about tests God might have in our lives to reward obedience to Him. For example, would they share a very special toy with a new kid at church? Perhaps God has a great little friendship waiting to be built if they would pass the sharing test? Jesus fed a group of over 5,000 people because one little boy had passed the sharing test with his basket of lunch. Sure, Jesus could have made food out of sand, but He was looking for a sharing heart that would partner with Him.

So, weeks after this discussion, standing in the Wal-Mart return line, a woman dropped change on the floor. The boys crawled all over the floor (to my chagrin—our Wal-Mart is typically filthy) to gather it up. They handed it to her and she said, ‘oh thank you sweetie.’ Then, she proceeded to give the boys each two pennies so they could rub them together. Their eyes lit up, sweet, new found money. (they were 2 ½ , 2 ½ , and 4.)

There was a woman behind us who also had 3 children with her. After a few minutes in line, I pointed that out to the boys. A generous lady had shared with them and wouldn’t it be kind to keep that going? The children behind us watched my boys like hawks. One by one, two of my boys offered up their extra penny to one of the children waiting beside them. But, there was one hold out. Wyatt did not want to part with his extra penny. I encouraged him to think how happy he was that someone had shared with him and how happy those children beside us were that a brother had shared. Grateful giving hearts and hands or greedy grumpy hearts; he had to choose.

I watched the conflict rage inside Wyatt’s mind and heart. I was leaving this decision up to him. I wanted him to know the feeling he’d have whether he chose to keep it or give it away. Like all good suspense movies, he waited till the last possible second to pass his penny off to the child as we left the return line. *

Wyatt grinned ear to ear as he watched a similarly large smile spread across the child he gave the penny to. I promptly took the boys over to sit down so we could talk. ‘Remember a few weeks ago when we talked about ‘tests and trusts’? God places tests in our lives to see if we’ll be faithful to honor Him or ourselves. Well, this was a test Momma created. I was thinking I would like to reward your giving hearts with a hamburger from McDonald’s if everyone shared the pennies they were given. Course you didn’t know that, just like you won’t know many tests God puts in your path to see if you will choose Him or yourself. Hearts that close up tight in greedy grumpy cannot receive gifts from God, but there are blessings waiting for hearts that are grateful giving.’ We celebrated over hamburgers and talked more about how sometimes God has the reward for choosing Him right away, and sometimes down the road.

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“Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each one of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give…God loves it when the giver delights in giving. God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done,” 2 Cor. 9:6-8.
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*writing this from notes I penned almost 4 years ago when this happened, I am blown away by what God has grown in Wyatt’s heart with regards to sharing. I had not fully realized this until thinking back on this story. One week ago Wyatt had 27 Silly Bandz, today he has none…by his own decision to share every last one of them with people at school who did not have any. God is gifting him with a heart to not count the cost and me with a child who reminds me not to cling to possessions when they could be a blessing to someone who has less. How cool this will be to share with him--'look at what God is growing in your life!' And to think I almost missed it! This is just further affirmation of why God tells us to raise up reminders of His work in our lives.