Pennies From Heaven

Over the last eight years I've attended the same YMCA gym several times a week. It was doctor-mandated after facing some health issues. Thankfully, I’m doing well.

But almost every week I typically find loose pennies on the floor or inside the locker. Today was one of those days ___ I opened an empty locker and there were two pennies on the locker floor. I picked them up and dropped into my gym bag. When I get enough loose coins spilling around in the bag, I retrieve them and drop them into my coin jar in the bedroom. I always pick up stray coins on the sidewalk, in the gym, or any other places where loose change congregate.

As I fingered those two pennies today, I made a few observations about pennies and life. First, pennies seemed to have been trivialized as being almost worthless. I once read it costs more to mint a penny than the actual value of the penny. I tried to figure out why there are so many loose pennies in the gym locker room. Surely, some can slip out of one’s pocket when changing clothes. Maybe some people discard them because they are near worthless and take up too much room on one’s pocket.

It seem like people will not even stoop over to pick up a penny they may have dropped. It’s simply a waste of time and energy.

The second observation is more personal. Today as I entered the locker room I was thinking about a number of commitments and activities going on in my life … actually not “going well enough” is a better way to describe what I was thinking. Too slow. Not enough. Not good enough. Dissatisfied.

Back to pennies. Those two coins made me think about the old song “Pennies From Heaven” and more importantly, about the Lord. Seems like a stretch at first … but really, Heaven and the Lord are obviously connected.

The two coins reminded me of “Do not despise these small beginnings” which comes from Zechariah 4:10. Though the building of the temple was weak and poor, the people were reminded that the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.

Take Zechariah’s words to heart. When life seems like small steps or meager beginnings, if the Lord is in the effort and your work, He nevertheless rejoices even though we may not see it!

Do not despise pennies.  Some days the Lord uses trivial things to get our attention and to refocus on what is important. Today was one such day. May tomorrow be your day!

Robert Parlante

January 2015