How Much Is A Penny Worth?
"It's $7.99," the cashier at the take-out food store said to me.
I gave her eight dollar bills for the food and said, "Okay," and proceeded to leave without waiting for the one-cent change and my receipt. "Okay," she replied, not bothering to offer me my change.
One time, as I got off my car in the parking lot, I saw a couple of pennies glaring at me right on the ground where I alighted. They were probably there for a long time, and no one bothered to pick them up. I did not pick them up, either.
Two weeks before, while in line for coffee and donuts at the airport, I saw a man who had just paid for his coffee and donuts holding also his change of bills and coins. A few little red coins dropped on the floor, but he did not bother to pick them up. A small boy who saw it picked up the coins and exhibited a happy look while touching the coins on his hand as if he had found a treasure.
How much is a penny worth? Or what is the value of one cent?
For sure, ninety-nine pennies would not be a dollar without another penny added to it. The penny has its own value. Like all pennies do.
How much is a penny worth?
If people were pennies, how much would each person be worth?
In His Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus compared people to sheep. The Good Shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep in the open to look for the one missing sheep:
"Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ (Luke 15:3-6)
Our Lord Jesus loved people. It's because He created them. He gave up His life for all of them, without exception.
He created them in the womb. At first, they were little, like a penny, but they were little persons.
Because they are little, some big people do not think they are already people. Like a penny is not a dollar.
Just like some people do not value a penny when they see them on the ground, some people do not value a little person in the womb. They could be a bother. So they get rid of them.
But little persons in the womb grow bigger and when they are born they become even bigger persons, like the rest of humanity.
Just like a dollar is not a dollar if it lacks one penny, so humanity is not more human if it lacks one of its own . . . if it disregards one of its own. Worse, if it kills one of its own.
The boy who picked up the pennies in a coffee and donuts line knows well the value of the small-looking pennies. They gave him joy!
How much is a penny worth?
Take a cue from the boy who picked up the pennies and put them on his hand.
How much is a person worth?
Take the cue from the Father, who picked us up and placed us on His loving hands.#
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointedyou a prophet to the nations.”
Note: I just saw the picture below posted by Dr. Scott Hahn on Facebook today, June 14, 2019. It graphically illustrates the point of my blog article, and more.
