What Are They Offering?

I’m sure it happens with every toddler if given the chance…and, well, Micah is no exception I guess. Of course we want to instill good habits into our little guy so why not start young.  Besides, Micah is always looking for things to do during church services. Therefore, when the offering “plate” comes by I like to ask Micah if he will give back to God the offering on behalf of our family.

 

Before Micah really understood the idea of putting money into the little pouch on a stick, I had a well planned strategy. I needed to get the money out of my pocket without prematurely drawing his attention to it. Then, I had to reveal and give it to him with enough to look at it himself, but yet not too much time so that he would lose interest and throw it on the ground. At the same time, I needed to keep my hand in close proximity to his so that when the pouch came, I could gently move his hand over the basket and tell him to let go. As soon as the birr (that’s the currency here) fell into the darkness, the usher (or mommy) would pull the pouch away before his curious fingers could latch on. We practiced this routine for a couple weeks before it seemed Micah was beginning to understand what he was doing. We knew we had to entrust him with a bit more responsibility, and on that third Sunday, he didn’t let us down. As the offering began, I gave him the birr a bit earlier letting him hold it on his own, though still seemingly unaware of what it was for. But, aha!, when that basket appeared in front of his nose, he knew exactly what to do. He slam dunked the birr and glanced up over his shoulder at us with a goofy smile. We smiled back with much-earned parental pride. Well, you know what Scripture says, “pride comes before a fall.”

 

Week four’s offering time came Christmas Sunday and I took out the birr with no attempt at hiding it. Micah of course reached for it with gusto and, recognizing what it was for, turned and looked around the room to spot the offering collector. There he was, off to our right holding the familiar pouch into which Micah’s treasure was awaiting deposit. Micah, with a serious concentration the whole time, was all business and didn’t take his eye off of the offering pouch as it made its way around the circle toward our bench (Gmz church is always in a big circle). As it drew near, Micah stretched out his birr-clenching fist in anticipation and both Andrea and I relaxed in victory as our little guy was so picture-perfectly doing it all by himself. The smiles on our faces grew as the pouch now floated directly under Micah’s offering. A pause…and my peripherals alerted me to trouble, the every so slight raising of Micah’s nose so as to peer into the darkness of the offering bag. At precisely that moment, I saw Micah’s right hand launch out from his side like a missile and without releasing its treasure, the left hand retracted to give room for the right hand to pass and plummet deep into the purse! And believe me, with a well planed and perfectly executed plan like that, he wasn’t just trying to make change!

 

The heist was going just as his little mind had rehearsed it. He had played the “good soldier” for several weeks now, convincing his superiors that he was ready for a solo mission. Then, just when he was to pull the trigger on the target, he aborted and went AWOL.  And he may have gotten away with all the booty had he not miscalculated one minor detail – the reach of his stubby, little arm. Despite being fully extended, those grubby little fingers pifered only the air a good two inches above the coins resting at the bottom of the pouch. Sadly, there was no time for repositioning in the milliseconds before the long arm of the law – in this case, daddy’s - cuffed onto his chubby wrist – busted!

 

After a quick system reboot inside Micah’s brain, he remembered the original task. And so, like the good boy we’ve grown to trust, he reached out his left hand and released his grip over the still-hovering offering pouch. The Gmz usher couldn’t help but smile as he moved on around the circle. Neither could we. Either Micah is a good boy at times derailed by simple curiosity, or he is a brilliant mastermind of complex schemes who plans to one day take over the world (do I hear the Pinky and the Brain theme song?). We’re proud of him either way.