No Place for Dimes

By Kathy Stacy

I will surely give the tenth unto thee (Gen. 28:22).

Paul loved to save dimes. He saved shiny new dimes and tarnished old dimes. He saved the dimes he received for his birthday.

Grandma would give Paul dimes after he pulled the weeds in her flower garden. Grandpa would give Paul dimes for helping him herd the cows into the barn for milking.

Father would give Paul dimes for helping with the yard work. Mother would give him dimes for watching his little brother.

Paul had a lot of dimes, but no place to keep them. He put dimes in his sneakers, but they hurt his feet when he walked. He put dimes in his pockets, but they fell out when he ran and jumped. So Paul took all his dimes and put them on his dresser. He kept putting more and more dimes on his dresser. Soon the top of the dresser was full of dimes.

One morning at breakfast Mother said, “You have so many dimes on your dresser that I can’t dust it.”

“And I have no place to set my new goldfish,” said his big brother.

“I have an idea,” said Father. “I’ll show you when I come home from work today.”

When Father came home, he was carrying a box. He handed it to Paul. Inside it were many green paper tubes, an envelope with the bishop’s name on it, and a small jar.

“How will these help me with my dimes?” asked Paul.

“Come with me, and I’ll show you,” said Father.

They went to Paul’s room. Paul made lots of piles by counting ten dimes into each pile. Father had him put one dime from each pile into the envelope. Then Paul recounted the remaining dimes the same way. Every time he had five piles of ten dimes, Father put them into a green tube and closed it. When no more tubes could be filled, Paul put the leftover dimes into the jar and put it on the dresser.

“What do we do now?” Paul asked.

“Let’s see how much money you put in the envelope so that we can fill out the tithing slip,” said Father. “Then you can take your tithing money to the bishop on Sunday. Tomorrow after work I’ll take you to the bank, where you can turn in your rolls of dimes. The bank will keep your money in a savings account.”

The next day Father took Paul to the bank. The lady behind the desk took all of Paul’s neatly wrapped dimes. She gave him a small book with his name printed on it. Inside, the book it told him how much money he had given the lady.

On Sunday Paul went to the bishop’s office. He proudly gave his tithing envelope to the bishop.

“Thank you,” said the bishop. “I’m sure that the Lord will bless you for paying your tithing.”

Paul felt very happy. He knew the Lord had already blessed him.

Illustrated by Julie F. Young