maria and the money

James, Jay, and Maria, 1997

Yesterday we finally made it to church, and it was a gorgeous morning, big old doors wide open to the breeze, stained glass sparkling in the morning sunshine.

The pastor called the kids to the front for the children's sermon and sat on the steps in front of the altar and showed them an old ratty five dollar bill.

The talked about it for a minute, and then he asked them if they thought a new five dollar bill would be worth more than the tattered one?

They weren't sure.

He told them no. It's not. They're exactly the same because the US government says so. A five dollar bill is always worth five dollars, and that's the truth.

Then he went on, no matter how imperfect or tattered we are, just like that we hold our value with God. Everyone's worth the same, no matter how good or bad, perfect or tattered, nothing can diminish our value either.

Cool analogy. I liked it very much.

And it also reminded me of this old Maria Story:

One morning the kids brought me the pieces of a dollar bill that had been cut up, and I was a little annoyed. "Don't be cutting up money. What are you guys doing?" I put the pieces on the dresser.

In a little while they were back while with bits of a five. That was more obnoxious. "Who is cutting up this money? This cannot happen. What's going on?" I put those pieces on the dresser.

THEN they showed up with bits of a twenty dollar billl, and that's when it was over. "Bring me all those doll purses!" And I started ranting.

I sorted the bills like puzzle pieces and taped them together, trying to see if we had enough to trade in at the bank or not. A dollar, or six dollars, that's annoying, but twenty six dollars? No. "You darn kids. Did you see her doing this?"

We did tape them and they were almost complete. At the bank the next day, I had to tell them, "A really bad baby cut up this money." The lady leaned way forward at the window, peering into the back seat at Miss Maria in her carseat. Then she came back with the new money.

And Pastor Mark is right--even cut up money taped back together still holds its value.

Nice.

With love on a beautiful Monday, Val