A while ago, my daughter’s counselor greeted me at the end of a session with “Blessed be! I didn’t know you’re Pagan!” I asked him how he figured it out - especially since I seldom self-identify myself that way - and he told me he’d asked the Princess about her philosophy of life and she’d described - without quoting - the Law of Return and told him she’d learned it from me.
Now, I’m not just bragging on the fact that my daughter did me proud with that - though she did. I’m proud she learned the lesson, and has chosen it as a central guiding principle. I’m also amused by the way I came by the lesson… and some of you will probably be amused by it, too. The Wise Woman who taught me about the Law of Return was a Catholic nun. Here’s how it happened.
When I was 16, I made myself my first amulet. It was a small cloth bag sewn by hand and closed with a drawstring. It held a small blue glass bead formed by dropping molten glass into cold water, a folded slip of homemade paper probably inscribed with some boy’s name, dried rosepetals from my grandmother’s garden and a penny minted in my birth year.
Let me tell you about that penny. I’d spent months looking for it, sorting through my mother’s tip jars and all the penny jars I could find. I’d checked my change every time I bought something, and asked people to keep an eye out for me. It was a special prize, and meant a lot to me to have it.
One morning in Latin class, Sr. Marie told us about her last class - a freshman catechism class. Their project for the year was supporting their “adopted” child through a Catholic charity. Each week, they held bake sales to raise money and once a month they sent the money to the charity. This month when they’d counted up their take, they’d realized they were just a couple dollars short of being able to sponsor a SECOND child. They’d all dug into pockets and wallets, but at the end of the class, they were still a dollar and some change short of the needed amount.
I still remember it was Chad Smith who reached into his pocket first and said, “Here’s another quarter, Sister.” She tried to shoo him away, but by that time everyone else was digging too. There were only six of us in that class, and we each came up with stray coins from our pockets - nickels, dimes, quarters and pennies.
You can guess what happened, can’t you? Sr. Marie counted up the change and exclaimed that we’d made up all but a penny of what the freshman needed. She was delighted - and knew that they would be too. We, on the other hand, were disappointed. We -wanted- to make that dollar and change up for the freshman. It had become important to us, and every one of us dug into our bags and pockets again and came up empty. And then - I remembered my penny. With a flourish, I pulled it out of its little sack around my neck and triumphantly exclaimed, “I’ve got it!”
Sr. Marie tried not to take it. She demurred that it must be an important penny if I wore it around my neck. I was insistent, even though I figured it would take me months to replace it. When she realized that I wasn’t about to back down, she took the penny and then said to me, very quietly, “Just remember that the good you do comes back to you seven fold.”
That afternoon, I told the story on the bus to my best friend. I was having just a twinge of buyer’s regret, knowing how long it took me to find that last 1959 penny. The girl sitting in the seat in front of us overheard part of the conversation and turned around with a handful of change. She plucked a penny out of it and said, “Oh, for heaven’s sake. It’s just a penny. Here!” I started to explain that I needed a 1959 penny, but stopped when I looked down at the date - 1959.
It didn’t end there, though. Later that afternoon, I was walking down a driveway on my paper route and my toe kicked a coin on the ground. I bent over to pick it up - another 1959 penny. I got a third 1959 penny in a tip envelope from one of my regular customers. In all, seven 1959 pennies found their way to me over the next few days - and not one of them was deliberately looked for. One penny was a strong coincidence. Two was confirmation. But seven? It was a life-affirming event.
Have you ever had the Law of Return manifest in your life in such an overt way? What have you given that’s been returned to you increased? It’s Only the Good Friday so share the good things!
Find other Only the Good Friday posts at :
Insightful Nana
Tide Offers “Loads Of Hope.” Only The Good Friday.
Only The Good Friday - The Funny
Inside Mo’s Mind
Join us by posting something GOOD on your blog on Fridays and then let me know. I’ll add you to my list. And if you drop by Nana’s place above, she’s keeping a list, too. I want to read more about your GOOD Friday the 13th.
