A Heart of Gold

I’ve been working in a card shop for years. I have watched numerous holidays roll in and out, and I’ve helped so many people find their perfect present and card. Honestly, up until this point, I had lost a little faith in the system of gift giving and holidays. Don’t get me wrong, I love to celebrate, both people and God. However, the idea of giving gifts had slowly lost a little bit of its charm for me. Then this past Mother’s Day happened.

It was a busy day, because Mother’s Day happens to be one of the biggest card-giving days in the United States. I was tired because I’d worked a long week and was still working. People were frustrated because they came in mere days before hoping to find some kind of gift that would work for their mom, grandma, aunt, sister, or even wife for Mother’s Day. I turned the counter to help a gentleman and found that a child was waiting to be checked out. He looked to be all of ten or eleven. As the gentleman had been standing in line longer, I was obliged to help him first (but I’ll give him kudos for being extremely respectful of the child and thanking him for allowing me to check him out first.) When the little boy came up, he handed me one of the bigger Mother’s Day cards that we sell, and asked if I could tell him how much it would come out total with tax. It was going to be over eight dollars for that card, and his face fell tremendously as I told him that softly. He informed me that he didn’t have that much. So I asked if he maybe wanted to try and pick a different card.

He nodded and did go find one. It was about half the price in total. As I totaled his purchase out, he emptied his pockets of two one-dollar bills and eleven quarters. After his purchase, he was left with a quarter, nickel, and dime. He had just spent all of his money to buy his mama a Mother’s Day card. I could no longer be tired.

In the long run, no person would have thought much of that gift. It was under five dollars, was a paper folded in half, and had little value. When I saw the heart he had put into it, it was worth more than gold. That child had given all he had in love, and it was almost like he resonated the parable of the widow’s offering in the gospel of Mark, like he was the small light in the world to remind us what giving is all about. And my faith in humanity was restored. It reminded me of why we live, why we breathe, why we give: to love. I guess God really does send those little reminders to us in our day, cause goodness knows, after that little boy came into my store, I couldn’t help but smile and try to pass some of that light on to each person that came after.