Loose Change

I have a small country crock on the counter in my laundry room.
It is tucked away in the corner.
You would have to look for it in order to see it.
I know it is there.

It is a crock in which I keep my loose change.
Whenever my wallet gets too full of change, I empty the loose change into the crock.
Quarters, dimes, and nickles go into the crock on the laundry room counter.
Pennies go elsewhere.

There are many people who do not like to have loose change.
There are many people who use credit cards or debit cards all the time.
I am old fashioned, I guess.
I still like to pay cash for groceries and other things as well.

My husband reminds me of the additional rebates we would get if I charged our groceries.
There is just something about charging food.
I like staying on budget even now after all these years.
I like having a little extra money in my wallet.

I really do not remember when I started to put loose change into the small country crock.
I do remember when I began to collect pennies.
We had an old glass bottle on our hearth for many years.
It had a narrow neck and was quite heavy when filled.

That old glass bottle was where the pennies would go.
Once they got thrown into the glass bottle, they could not come out again.
Only when the glass bottle was turned on its side would some of the pennies fall out.
I liked having a penny jar, as we called it, and my children loved to throw pennies in there.

I wanted to show them how to appreciate small things.
I wanted them to realize that even the littlest thing adds up after a while.
I remember them going over to the penny jar and looking inside.
It was almost like the old game of guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar.

I remember when one of my children was celebrating the 100th day of school.
In the early years of school, it was a big deal to bring in 100 somethings.
When it was decided to bring in 100 pennies, the jar had to be tipped on its side.
The narrow neck of the glass bottle hit the stone hearth and cracked.

That should have been the day we stopped collecting pennies.
However, the penny jar had been a permanent fixture on the hearth.
It needed to be replaced.
I had a large stoneware crock that would do just fine.

To this day, that stoneware crock is still on the hearth and still has pennies inside.
It is always something little children love to play with when they are in my family room.
As they run their fingers through the pennies, they seem to like the sound.
Some will even grab a few pennies and line them up on the hearth.

Who dares despise the day of small things? (Zechariah 4:10)

What began as a habit of throwing coins into a crock soon became a life lesson.
The smallest things add up after a while.
What seems insignificant really has value.
Little things really do matter.

My children were always surprised when I brought the small crock to the coin machine.
I would pour the coins into the tray.
The sound of the coins falling into the machine was deafening.
We would watch the screen as the machine counted the coins for us.

Sometimes, a loose coin would fall into the bottom tray.
We would retrieve it and place it back in the machine.
Often the machine would reject it again.
Upon closer inspection, we would see that a foreign coin somehow got mixed in with the rest.

When all the coins were counted and the total came up on the screen, my children were amazed.
The total was always close to $100.
Just a small country crock filled with loose change really added up after a while.
The loved going up to the register and cashing in our coin voucher.

Grand things are often desired over simple things.
Bigger is thought to be better.
New is preferred over old.
Immediate satisfaction is favored over patience.

You have to wait in order to cash in a small country crock filled with loose change.
You have to understand that if you cash in 100 pennies you will get one dollar.
You cannot be in a rush when you deal with small things.
Time, patience, appreciation, and gratitude is learned when loose change is saved.

It is a worthwhile lesson for both adults and children.
We should not despise the small things.
The small things are often the big things.
It is our outlook that makes all the difference.

Try it yourself.
Start saving your loose change.
Collect your spare pennies in a jar.
Your perspective will be changed by this simple task.