When Spirit Teaches Children

As I was sorting through my files, I came upon a story I’d written in 2004, which illustrated how Spirit works with us in teaching children, and decided to share it again here in this forum. There are various names for the Natural Laws at work in this story, but whether you call it the Law of Attraction, the Law of Giving, or the Law of Reciprocity, in the end, the greatest energy in the Universe is that of the heart, and this is the story of a little boy with a very big heart. Enjoy!

It was a rainy July day in 2004, but nothing could dampen our spirits. It was my day to play Boston tour guide for my nephew Colin and niece Sydney, ages 6 and 5 respectively, visiting from Minnesota. I led Colin and Sydney through the Faneuil Hall market area toward the old King’s Chapel on the Freedom Trail. Sydney’s tiny hand was tucked securely in mine, while Colin skipped ahead a few paces.

Something shiny on the ground caught my eye, and I stopped. “Hey Sydney, look!” I pointed to a silver coin. She stooped quickly to pick it up and investigate.

“Hey Colin, look! I found a dime!” she called out. Colin stopped in his tracks and ran back to see for himself.

“Wow, Syd. That’s great! I wonder if I can find a dime,” he said.

“Sure you can,” I said. “Just think real hard that you want to find a dime, and I bet you we’ll find one. Sydney, you think hard too for Colin, ok?” She nodded, and we all searched the ground carefully as we walked along. We soon turned a corner, and there, just a few paces in, sat another dime on the ground.

“Colin! What’s that?” I pointed again to the ground. Sydney saw it first, and cried excitedly, “Colin, it’s your dime! Look! It’s your dime!”

Colin bent over to look for himself, and as he picked it up, he looked at me in wonder. His lips spread into a smile. “It’s my dime…”

“See how easy it is? You just have to think hard about something you want, and there’s a good chance it will show up. Maybe not right away, but eventually.” I knew Spirit was working with me by that point, so I too was

curious to see what was coming.

We entered the chapel foyer, and before going into the sanctuary, we stood before a donations box asking for a $3.00 donation. So I took out three one-dollar bills, and gave the children each a dollar bill to put in the box. “What is this for?” asked Colin. I explained that this money would help to keep the church in good condition so that people from around the world could visit, like we were doing, and learn about how people in America worshipped hundreds of years ago. Colin then said, “I think that’s a very good cause. Renee, how about if I give my dime to this church?”

“Colin,” I replied, “I think that’s a fine idea.” Suddenly Sydney piped up in alarm, wanting to know if she too had to give up her dime. I explained that if she wanted to keep her dime, she certainly could. It was a personal choice. Syd was satisfied with that and proceeded to drop just the dollar bill into the box. Colin followed, first with the dollar, and then his dime. He looked up at me and smiled, satisfied with his decision and we proceeded into the sanctuary for our tour.

After the short tour, I was digging for change to purchase postcards when Colin asked if I didn’t have ‘an old dime lying around that he could have…one that I didn’t need anymore.’ I laughed to myself, and looked into my coin purse.

Sure enough—there was one dime left, an old dingy-looking one from 1971. I handed it to Colin. “Oh, it’s really old,” he said, a hint of disappointment registering in his voice.

“But it’s still got the same value,” I said. “Besides, you did a very good thing donating your only dime to a good cause. I’m proud of you.” He brightened up, accepted my old dime, and we began our walk back toward Faneuil Hall. “You know, Colin,” I said as we walked, “it’s said that when you give out things you value, and when you do good for others, good things can happen to you in a return greater than you gave out. For example, now you might find a quarter, or something really good might happen for you, because you were so unselfish. God rewards these things,” I explained. Suddenly, Colin began looking for quarters on the ground, and I regretted suggesting a cash return. As we reached Hay Market, Colin ran over to a nearby bank of telephones, and poked his little fingers into the first coin return. Before I could object, he looked back at me in amazement, and his fingers dove back into the return.

“Renee, look! I just got FIVE dimes in the telephone!” he exclaimed. “You were right. I got my money back five times bigger!” He opened his hand to show me five shiny new dimes along with my old 1971 dime. Sydney then opened her hand, and there was the single dime she’d been holding onto so tightly all this time. The symbolism was not lost on me. Colin quickly said, “Here, Syd, you take another one,” and he placed another dime in her hand. Sydney smiled and thanked her big brother graciously. “And Renee, you can have your dime back, too, ok? So, now I have four dimes!” He carefully checked the other coin returns in the bank, but they yielded no more dimes.

As much as I believed all that I was telling Colin, the rapidity with which the Universe was responding to Colin filled me with a sense of awe. We walked a little further along the plaza, and there before us was a large clear-acrylic box filled with money. Colin immediately wanted to know what it was all about, so I read the plaque above it requesting donations for homeless children.

“Homeless children?” he asked. “You mean, some children here have no homes?” The idea of it touched Colin deeply, and his young brow crinkled into a frown. He finally announced that he wanted to give all his dimes to the children, and just as he was about to drop them in, he looked about, and asked, “Well, what other good causes are there around here?”

“I don’t know, Colin,” I laughed, “but if you want to reserve some of your money for something else, you can do that too. Give whatever you feel comfortable giving, ok?” Colin dropped two of the four dimes into the box, and then for a moment rested his palm on the box, lost in thought. A prayer? He looked down again at the remaining dimes in his hand and slowly closed his fingers back around them. All the way back to the train station, he kept an eye out for other donation boxes and asked questions about the process of giving and receiving, as he’d experienced on that day. So we talked about what it means to be generous, how it makes one feel, and why it’s important to give when you have the opportunity. We also talked about the power of positive thinking, and how we can make great things happen in our lives, if we believe strongly in them. He understood it all implicitly, and was satisfied with his new knowledge.

I’ve often thought of that day, and wondered who learned more, Colin or me. At the time, I had been reading a lot about the Law of Attraction, the Laws of Spirit (Dan Millman), and the Natural Laws, as defined in Spiritualist Philosophy, but I hadn’t experienced these Laws at work in such a powerfully explicit way until that day. What had been an intellectual understanding going into that afternoon with Colin and Sydney, became a lifelong lesson in believing–believing in the power of goodness and generosity, the power of a pure heart, and the willingness of Spirit to work with us, to teach us, to help us whenever and however we need them.

I’d love to know how the Universe has responded to your positive intents. Feel free to share in the Comments box below. Thanks!

With love and light ~ Renee Buck