Little Gifts

The man was quite obviously hard pressed by life .. his clothing was a bit tattered, he hadn’t shaved for several days, his face was gaunt, his eyes vacant. He was hungry, no doubt, and all I had in my pocket was a quarter. I knew that it wouldn’t buy much, but perhaps it was a start, and I gave it to him.

As he looked at it, turned it over....a startled expression lit his eyes, and he handed it back to me. "I cant’ accept this," he said. "It is far too much!"

Puzzled, I asked him what he meant ... and he replied, "This is a very valuable coin. I know. I used to collect coins."

To me, it was just a quarter, and I told him so. "Let me show you," the man said. Let’s go down the street a block .... and we walked together. After all, I was going that way, anyway. We came to a coin shop, and went inside. He told me to show the coin to the shopkeeper, which I did.

The store owner looked at it, looked at us, and said, "Sure, I will buy it. How about $125 ??"

When asked why it was worth so much, he said, "This is a 1932 quarter, made in Denver. It is very scarce, and collectors pay a hefty premium for it."

I told the dealer, "It belongs to this man. Pay him. He could see the value in it. I could not."

And then, it hit me, like a ton of bricks .... how often do we pass by poorly dressed people on the street ... and fail to see the value in them?

In the words of William Barclay, "Jesus sees the sleeping hero in the soul of every man and woman!"