I found a penny in the washing machine today. It was lying heads up. I don’t remember exactly what that means. I could ‘Google’ it, but I don’t really feel like it right now. I don’t believe in penny myth. I don’t believe in luck either. After churning and spinning for 20 minutes, the penny was clean, at least. The tarnished yet sterilized copper disc now rests in the coin section of my small purse awaiting its turn at transference to another set of hands during redemption. I sense that this small coin will find itself off on another adventure. Perhaps I will spot it again one day. My eyes will catch a glimpse of it lying motionless on the dirty blacktop parking lot of the local town square. I will stoop to pick it up, check its date and then quickly slide it into a pocket of my jeans. Unless I pocket the memory of its whereabouts, this penny will make its ultimate trip back to the washing machine. And the cycle continues.
I have been lost before. I have been ‘heads down and tails up’ flat on my face. If I am totally honest, I feel lost right this second. Thrown into a churning bath of dirtied laundry
and soiled rags, I spin out of control. Spent, down trodden and bashed about, my soul lies motionless upon the burning blacktop of life. I long for redemption. Like that penny, I yearn to be freed from the tangled mass of wet jeans and tee shirts. I dream of a better adventure. Who will redeem my soul? And will the cycle continue?
I sure hope not.
But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death; he reaches down and grabs me.
Psalms 49:15
The Message
I don’t know who actually coined the rhyme “Find a penny and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. Find a penny and let it lie, you’ll want that penny before you die.” You can do your own internet search for the answer. To that I say, “Good luck”.
