A Work in Progress

I'm not sure if you remember, but a little over a year ago, I wrote a post about Pennies. ◄ (not just) Penny Jar  Namely, finding the small -- very inconsequential -- things of life and not only making them an intentional part of your life, but making them a gift. To yourself. These gifts are everywhere -- if we're willing to look past our own negative expectations. Here's the jar today. After a year of doing this, of not passing up a penny when I just happened to walked by one, or picked one up at my feet as I got out of the car, I've changed. Here's how: 1. Expansion : It didn't just stop with pennies, it became dimes and nickels and quarters. And then it became dollars. And then jewelry and keys! There were more gifts around than I thought. I began to find dollars and five dollar bills in the vintage clothing I sold at my Etsy shop. It became comical. My oldest would walk to his car after school and pick up dollars on the ground in front of

Pennies are everywhere, right? I mean, they're on the ground, at the cash register at Starbucks, they're probably in your sofa cushions. A few weeks ago, I began to notice random pennies on the ground when I was about town, running errands, and fueling the car. And it wasn't just one day, they started appearing repeatedly -- it became every day, after every errand, to the point that I began to wonder what was going on. I couldn't ignore them. But, "It's just a penny. Why stop to pick it up? What can it do for me?" Maybe I was going about this all wrong. This jar will be full very soon. After a week or two, it began to bother me not picking up that single penny. It's as if God was saying, "I will provide for you but you have to take it," every time I saw one in the dirt, on the street, underneath a counter. And I was intentionally ignoring it.  By not picking them up, I was saying, "This blessing is too small. This