Children bring to us laughter and joy.

Recently at church we had a very curious event take place.   Our son did something that perplexed us both for a short time.  There is a part of the service where children in the church bring their pennies up to the front and put them into piggy banks lined up on a table.  The money that is generated is given to the poor.  The children feel very proud that they are giving to a cause that is helping people in the community.  During this time several children were talking and getting very excited about putting their pennies into the individual piggy banks.  While the children were up front, I was helping usher in the back of the church while Anne was leading our congregation in music.  When she was not standing in front of the pulpit singing, Anne was sitting next to our pastor. 

Abby playing very intently.

The next thing that happened, caught us both off-guard.  The children standing near the piggy banks were talking to our son Will.  Instead of them putting their pennies in the individual banks, they started to hand them to Will first and then he gave them back to the other children, but not before looking the pennies over very intently first.   As moments transpired, one by one the children went back to their seats while Will remained up front.  Next, our son started checking his own pennies before putting them into the piggy banks.  At that moment, I stopped what I was doing in the back and curiously watched him.   The whole event that should have taken only until the end of the church offertory, lasted two more songs into the service. 

During that time when Will was up front inspecting the coins, the pastor noticed our little son doing his thing.  During a lull in the service when I and another gentleman were bringing the offering up to the front of the church, our pastor whispered over to Anne, “I see your son is a coin collector!”  Anne looked over and noticed Will still up front checking each coin before inserting them into the piggy banks.  Anne blushed a little, and then decided to smile at our little boy taking his work so seriously.  She then answered our minister’s question, “Yes pastor, he is a coin collector.”

Anne leading music.

The event was not over at that point though.  Will finally finished putting in the pennies and then proceeded to head back to grandpa and grandma’s pew, or so I thought.  He stopped by a very kind gentleman and started to have a conversation with him instead.  I could see that Will was handing him something, but I could not see what it was that was being exchanged.  Later, I spoke with Anne who had a better view than I did.  I asked her if she knew what had happened between the gentleman and Will.  She laughed, and then told me that the nice man gave our son a bag of pennies on Will’s journey to the front of the church.  He wanted Will to put  the coins in for him.  Our son was very happy to oblige him at that point.  Later, on Will’s return, he brought back several coins and gave them back to this gentleman.  Will told him that they were worth more than a penny apiece and that he should keep them.

Church Service

Needless to say, it was an interesting service.  Will was thinking that he was doing a very noble thing in checking the other children’s pennies.  As it turned out, fortunately Will found no coin worth more than a penny apiece in their offerings.  If he had, I am sure he would have taken the pennies back to each parent and informed them of their value. 

Wild turkey visiting our sandbox.

Later, we spoke with Will about the meaning of giving to the poor, and why it is so important to honor Jesus with a part of our bounty that he has given to us.  We added in our discussion with him that perhaps another time would be more appropriate to inspect coins.  As far as what to do with giving the pennies back to the gentleman in the pew, we left that for the angels to decide.  I do believe though that there was much joy and laughter in heaven when our son was carrying out his very devout mission of kindness.