Giving To Jesus

I'm not sure if I've shared the story of the first time Kenny and I gave money to Avery for her to put it in the collection plate at church. Here's a quick re-cap for those who haven't heard.

Avery was about 9 months old at the time, and we gave her two pennies to put in the plate that morning. During the service leading up to time to put the money in, she held on to her 'treasure' so tightly that her fingers turned white. Our worry was that she would not put the money in once the plate passed by.

Our worries subsized when the plate came by. She looked at the plate, then looked at her money. It was then that she threw the pennies over her shoulders and grabbed all of the money already in the plate.

Fast forward; Avery is now 18 months old. I don't know why we've waited so long to try to teach her again about giving, but we decided to give it another whirl.

In our church building, there are giant pictures hanging in the space between the balcony and lower levels. One of them contains a representation of Jesus, and Avery is fully aware of where "Jesus" is at all times.

This morning before time for the collection plate to be passed around, we gave her some change. She was very careful with the quarter and nickel. Kenny explained to her that we were going to give the money to Jesus.

It was then that she looked up, found the picture of Jesus, and held out her coins to give to Him. It was wonderful to see this time she was willing.