The Little Square Basket

Anonymous

In Kindergarten Bible School, every week I bring little baskets to the small group rooms. It’s our nod to giving. At the beginning of the year, I explain the purpose of the little baskets. Why do we give offering, I ask. The children give a variety of answers: to help people, because we’re supposed to, to tell God we love him. Those are a few I remember.

It was easier to explain offering when they saw it being physically taken every week as part of the worship service. The offering plates were passed and people put money into them as they went by. We don’t do that anymore, so there isn’t that visual cue each week. And Kindergarteners aren’t old enough to remember before COVID when we used to do that. But we do have the plates as people leave or enter the Sanctuary, where some surely see them.

This offering basket thing is as low key as it can be without disappearing altogether. If I forget to bring the baskets round, they let me know. Someone comes ready to give most every week—a sandwich bag with some coins, a dollar bill. Others explain when I bring it to their table, “I always forget” or “We don’t do that.” Sometimes the kids use the baskets to collect crayons they want to keep track of while drawing their craft.

One thing I love about the Kindergarteners is that they don’t have all the filters we older folks have. When they like something or when they don’t, they let us know. This will go away soon enough, but it’s one thing I love about them.

Over the course of the year, the subject of money has come up a few times, and they enthusiastically let me know they love it. They know they don’t have very much of it, but they all want more. They love what it will buy them. It’s fun and gratifying for them to think of what they would do if they had more of it. There is energy and enthusiasm expressed when the subject of money has come up. More than one of them has said out loud with gusto and with no sense of irony at all, “I love money.”

A few weeks back, something happened that brought me up short. The little basket in one of the groups was overflowing with a plastic bag stuffed with coins and bills. There was a $10 bill, and a lot of singles.

All kinds of coins, some possibly foreign, or those rare dollar bill coins, some folded into a little square that once fit into a little pocket. The small group teacher explained that it all came from one boy who brought it in with much enthusiasm. “Wow,” I said, and added, “thank you so much.” I could tell this was a big deal for him and he was quite happy to do this surprising thing. He was excited to bring it. I mean, he was happy about it. Some of the other kids looked a little shocked.

When his dad came at the end of the hour to pick up his son, I asked him about it. “Yeah,” he said. “It wasn’t just him. His brothers and sisters—they’ve all been saving up for it.”

“That’s great,” I said as the father and son left.

In the world of Kindergarten, this was the equivalent of the unexpected six-figure gift. This little boy and his siblings, they love money, but they’re learning that giving it away, giving it to church, actually, giving it to Jesus as a part of worship, this is a great thing. As I saw that overflowing basket, I wondered if I should be giving more and with the joy of that boy.

I can’t help but think of another person from another time, a widow whose little coin went into the offering box. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.”

Anonymous stories of giving and generosity are welcome. If you have one or an idea related to this, email wtriggs@college-church. org. Such stories will appear under the heading “Giving Joy.”