Lost Pennies
by Becky Coursen
Some of the shoppers rolled their eyes and
huffed and snorted; others crossed their arms
and tapped their toes.
The fragile old lady ahead of me in the
checkout line had opened her change purse and
lost her coins all over the floor. They clattered
and spun into hidden spots under feet and
grocery cart wheels, and disgusted sighs were
audible as the cashier bent to retrieve them. The
lady’s awareness of the impatient folks around
her was evident as she whispered to the cashier,
“Don’t bother about those pennies on the floor.
It’s not a problem.”
But he did bother.
He picked up every one. And he leaned on
the counter as he placed every single coin—
“one penny, two pennies, three pennies, four
pennies”—into her wrinkled hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said, politely and firmly, “but it
is my life’s quest to make sure that every penny
in this world gets back to the place it belongs.”
Time and tapping toes did not thwart such a
man on his mission!
This is a true narrative; I witnessed it just
yesterday, and I have not stopped thinking about
it since. The scene led me to consider how much
of my world is out of its proper place. And the
words of the cashier reminded me that the quest
of Christ—who is in me—is also to make sure
every rolling, scattered penny in this world gets
back to the place it belongs.
I’m not certain I fully comprehended what I
was getting into when I took the step to ask Christ
to remove my heart and replace it with His. This
new heart feels the pain of the sin and confusion
around me. It mourns over hellish imbalances,
unfairness, and prejudice. It keeps me awake at
night, laboring in prayer when a friend is lost and
scared. It steals my time as it urges me to listen
to the chatter of the lonely ones, and it robs me
of wealth when a brother is in need.
This new and living heart of Christ—when I
let it rule—does not bring ease and happiness; it
brings an uncanny urge and even a compulsion
to fix things. This heart of Christ compels me,
and there will be no rest in my world until
every penny is back where it belongs. It is my
quest too.
How much
of my world
is out of
its proper
place?
Yet it would be an incomplete
picture to focus only on the lost coins
and the pressure they exerted on the
cashier’s heart. Something else was evidenced
when the cashier blatantly disregarded the
impatient toe tappers with their tight lips ready
to complain to a manager. Something else was
evidenced in the calm voice of the man and the
gentle aura of love and respect—it showed in the
perfect, calming rhythm of his “one penny, two
pennies, three pennies, four pennies.” He gave
back her coins, and he also gave back her value
and dignity.
There was power in this man with his mission.
I suspect it was a teaspoon’s sample of the
power that thrust the soldiers back at Gethsemane
when those toe-tapping arresters demanded to
see Jesus, and Christ uttered softly, “I am He”
(John 18:5).
Perhaps it was a tiny drop of the power that
once drove away angry toe-tapping accusers
from the woman caught in adultery. I’ve always
wondered what Christ was writing in the dust
that day. Perhaps He was counting as He put the
world back to where it belonged: “one penny,
two pennies, three pennies, four pennies…”
Light is quiet and
gentle, but it is
powerful in driving
back darkness.
And just maybe the quiet, gentle way Christ was
gathering scattered pennies drove those accusers
away. Light is quiet and gentle, but it is powerful
in driving back darkness.
The toe-tappers at my grocery store looked
little and silly beside such grandeur.
I was glad yesterday that those coins fell out
of the old lady’s change purse, and I was glad
to have been within earshot of the cashier’s
kind response. I rather suspect that he—like
me—belongs to the great Redeemer who bought
us with a great price. When I became His, He
gave me His heart, a heart that won’t rest until
every little penny gets back to the place where it
belongs, and everything is right again. And as my
Redeemer, He gives me power and strength to
see it through to the end.
Yet nly on on the
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