Money in the Bank

Sometimes you have to get a little creative when the hours are long. This particular day we were all itching to get out of the house. I had run out of the usual ideas in keeping two preschoolers busy: painting, impromptu dancing, building forts, "cleaning" plastic cups in the sink, etc. We were upstairs getting a little restless and Emmy was trying to convince me to let her dump out her piggy bank to play with her money. Desperate for an alternative to coins all over the floor and remembering I had to make a trip to the bank to close out an account, I decided it was field trip time. Emmy and Boone were going to learn all about the fascinating world of banking. 

So we grabbed a handful of coins from each of their little banks and headed to our local bank. We talked about how we were going to put some of their money in their savings account and how important it is to be wise and giving with our money. "Can we just buy whatever we want, whenever we want? No. Why? Because our money is actually God's money and we want to honor Him in the way we use it. Is God OK with us buying snow cones? Yes, money can afford some fun things along the way, as long as we remember those things can never fill our deepest need for God Himself." I was amazed at where Emmy and Boone's questions took our conversation! Who knows how much they really understood but it was neat to engage them in a truly meaningful exchange, if only for a few minutes.

 Once we got to the bank, we sat down with a very sweet bank employee who, after taking care of my account, let the kids count out their coins and write a deposit slip. I could not believe how interested Emmy and Boone were in the whole thing! I think they felt so very grown up standing in front of the bank teller as he handed them their deposit receipt. Our bank employee-friend gave them each a mini key chain flashlight for being so good and graciously posed for a picture. 

These are the moments I treasure as a Mama. What could have been a perfectly mundane and quite honestly frustrating errand, turned into a really fun lesson about saving money and being a good steward of the resources God gives us. These two are such a treasure!