Twenty Five Cents of Faith

Twenty Five Cents of Faith

Article by Sis. Shonté Bell

So there's a certain grocery store in the area which prides itself on being the stock up store. You know the one I'm talking about. You need a quarter in order to get a shopping cart. That's where the Dilemma comes in.

I'm a hustler by nature, and by nurture. I came from a home that was often short on resources. That's not a completely bad thing. When you grow up without having some of the things that you want in your life, you learn the value of working hard for what you want. When I was finally able to get a job, I was delighted! The whole arrangement seemed fantastic to me. You mean I can go to work, earn money, and then take that money and buy the things I want? Woohoo! I felt like I was living the American dream.

Fast forward a few decades later, I'm still on my hustle. I'm that Mom who tries to make everything happen. You want a cake? I bake it for you. 

That'll be $15. 

You need a new vase? Let me check my basement and see what I got laying around. There's got to be something I can rinse off and buff up and sell to you. 

That'll be $15. 

I frequently process the extra stuff in my home and attempt to monetize them. It helps me get rid of the things that I don't need. I'll have a garage sale in a minute. I drive my husband, Brother Tony, a little bit crazy when I have these spontaneous garage sales. 

(“Sorry honey, did you think you were going to have a relaxing Saturday morning? Not so much…”)

I also drag my kids out of bed at ungodly hours to help with this unannounced garage sale.  Do the sales bring in hundreds of dollars? Nah. Usually only about $50 or $60. But sometimes $50 or $60 is all I need for groceries that week. We are a large family, but we don't have any Social Services to support us. So I have to stay on my grind. 

This brings me closer to my aforementioned dilemma.

When you’re a person who's constantly on the hustle, constantly trying to earn an honest dollar, charitable thinking can sometimes take a backseat, to put it lightly.

Make no mistake, I have godly integrity when it comes to money. I refuse to steal from anybody else. I'm not a gambler. I tithe regularly. Loan with little to no interest. I’ve even forgiven debts that were too burdensome for the borrower to repay.

But when I walk up to the neatly stacked rows of grocery carts, and I see one, two, or maybe even THREE gleaming quarters peeking out at me from those tiny little slots, I feel like I just won the lottery!

And there's the dilemma.

What should a Christian person do? Leave behind perfectly good money,--money that doesn’t have anybody’s name on it? Money that may simply have been forgotten? Neglected, and left behind. These poor little quarters need a good home. Why would I leave a quarter that I chanced upon behind? What,--just to let somebody else have it? And what if that person is a greedy person? 

To paraphrase the Teacher who speaks to us in Ecclesiastes, “When you leave all you have to the person who comes after you, who knows whether that person will be a wise man or a fool?

Whenever Brother Tony is out shopping with me, he shakes his head at me as I happily grab my quarter and shove it into my pocket. 

He continues to shake his head at me as I search for other quarters that may be left in other carts. And no, I'm not trying to be greedy,--especially as I reach and strain on my tip-toes, trying to grab a quarter that is just out of reach, ignoring the disdainful glances of my neighbors. 

Who cares what they think? I'm an underpaid substitute teacher. I'm a mother with five children. FIVE! I'm trying to do everything I can to survive. It doesn't help that there have been times when I have seen managers scan the carts and toss all the extra quarters into their own pockets. I've also seen the occasional security guard do it. That makes me feel like a fool. Why did I wait for somebody else to come along and glean the quarters out of the cart? Don't I have kids to feed too?

This is the source of an ongoing debate between me and my husband. 

Brother Tony seems to feel that the quarter should be left in the cart for the next person coming along. That feels right to him. The quarter is but “meager gleanings” left behind in the field. A well-meaning token left behind to care for the needs of widows and orphans.  

And it seems to me that he can keep hold of such lofty concepts with ease and comfort. Him, a righteous man planted by streams of water. He spreads his branches over people and all come to eat and rest under the shade of his tree. 

But I'm the water in the soil that his tree works by. I’m the steam that keeps this engine humming. 

In real life terms, I balance the books. I'm the one who goes out and hunts for bargains on school supplies and clothing. I wake up early in the morning and spend my “free time” on the weekends perusing grocery stores aisles, hunting down good cheap eats. 

In my house sour milk does not get thrown away. It becomes the key ingredient for my WONDERFUL sour milk chocolate cake recipe. Or sour milk pancakes. 

Waste is the formidable enemy. Frugality is the order of the day. So I constantly scan the ground everywhere I go. Without pause, I pick up stray dimes and pennies off the concrete, GRATEFUL for such a serendipitous find. 

When the books are balanced, the children are all well-dressed and the house looks clean and beautifully decorated, my husband turns to me and calls me his “wife of noble character.”

 But I work hard to make my house work. To make it beautiful. Only I know how many things in our home have been gleaned from the local dollar stores, thrift stores, and random garage sales.  I spend my life searching the infinite marketplace with a handful of coupons and a heart full of hope.

So, quite frankly, my husband and I often seem to work on the opposite ends of the spectrum: 

He’s a hardworking, generous man.

I’m a godly, frugal woman.

So where is The Godly Balance? 

Though I feel proud of my contributions to our home, and I believe that my efforts are completely necessary for our family to survive, it is only ONE part of the equation. 

My husband is a righteous man, and despite my hard-scrabble habits, I would have a very hard time making it without him. The vast majority of our provision comes from his hard work and labor. 

I have to say (with a deep internal sigh), that when it comes to issues like this one, I feel like it's best to take the leadership of your husband, because he is the head. 

Being frugal feels right, especially to those of us who are thrifty by nature. 

But God is pleased to bless a righteous and generous man, and we don’t want to ever do anything to compromise such a blessing.

This issue challenges me frequently. I strain to be obedient and submit. I try to look away from my husband’s gently pleading eyes, his nonverbal insistence that I “be the bigger person” and leave behind the shiny twenty five cents. 

In any case "the 25 cent" dilemma is not yet exactly solved. 

I’m still straining to believe it’s best to leave behind these tiny offerings. That it’s blessed to follow the gentle promptings of the Spirit and let the next person be blessed by a meager twenty-five cents.

Quick peek behind the curtain

Our ministry, The Godly Balance, is a fresh and tender ministry that God has just birthed into the world. I believe He’s going to use this ministry to strengthen and encourage a great number of human beings.

God is building the Godly Balance, and  “building” us up as the leaders, right along with it.

But he’s doing it in the middle of a financial storm.

 The Godly balance is a useful ministry. We’re getting creative with ways to reach out, minister and encourage the hurting saints in our community. But this ministry is not monetized. I don't know that it ever will be. There’s no “donate” button on our website. No financial backers. No big grants or loans or financial plan.

Currently, we are simply God’s people out in the world trying to do as much good as we can. We are sharing God's truth as God’s truth is revealed to us. 

So this issue of generosity versus frugality is one that we understand intimately. We understand that it’s a challenge to offer up the little that you have, to share what you’ve been saving right in the middle of needing it so badly. To give away what you feel that you need. To give away what’s been given to you. 

I hope you’ll join with me in this good fight,--the fight to be generous and pliant, even when every fiber in your being is screaming for you to shove that quarter in your pocket and never look back. 

In the end, ONE quarter is not a lot of money. Not much we can do with it out in the world. It’s not a lot of money to invest into your spiritual field of Faith. But in the Lord’s hands, who knows how much it may yield?

Next, Bro. Tony recounts Part I of his spiritual journey.

Author: Sis. Shonté Bell

Date: 01/06/2019

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