Sissy Stories: The Offering Plate

I have been thinking the past few weeks that I need to start teaching Ava that she is expected to put something monetary into the offering plate when it comes her way. Even though she is a year and a half, I think we need to begin training her to do things like this. Hopefully, if she has always done it, she won't stop when she is older and begins to make her own money. Plus, I want to teach her how to give back. We are not rich folks, but we sure have been blessed with a lot. She needs to learn that we give back to God...after all, it all belongs to him, right?

I hated to begin this today because Jeremy was out of town, but I had to start sometime. Since Greta's arrival, one of our elders and his wife (John and Sherry Barrow) have begun to sit with us and help us out. Since Jeremy is the song leader, there is a period of about 20 minutes where I do not have his help. John and Sherry have been a tremendous help to me during that time! I really needed them today since I would be parenting alone for the whole service. I passed down a quarter to Sherry, who was holding Ava, and asked her to make sure that Ava put it into the plate. When the time came, I leaned over and whispered, "Ava, put it into the plate." She dropped the quarter into the plate with no hesitation! Yay! I don't know if it would have gone so well if we had asked her to put a goldfish into the plate! She loves her "shish." :) I hope it is always that easy for her to give back.

Anyway, this made me think of my sister, Brittany, when she was younger. My mom would always give us money to put into the offering plate at church. One time, when my mom was not looking, Brittany kept the dollar that my mom gave her and slipped a couple of dimes into the plate instead. When we got into the car to go home, Brittany had the dollar out. My mom asked her where she got it. Brittany, without any embarrassment or regret, explained that she wanted to keep the dollar and put dimes into the plate instead. She wanted a new Barbie doll. I can't believe I remember that! I also remember being so mad! Not because she didn't put the money into the plate, but because I wanted a new Barbie too! Why didn't I think of saving my offering plate money and offering dimes instead? :) ha! My little child brain!

All of this really did not have a point, it was just a memory that I wanted to share. It's funny how life experiences trigger memories of a different time in my life. Plus, I really like to share funny stories about Aunt "Beet." I know Ava will love to hear about this one day!