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Previous Challenge Entry (EDITOR'S CHOICE)
Topic: DEPOSIT( 03/11/21)

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TITLE: Account Balances | Writing Challenge By LINDA GERMAIN 03/17/21

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Routine bank transactions do not often trigger ear-to-ear grins on the smile-meter. The day my six-year-old opened his first checking account, that imaginary gage probably exploded from cuteness overload.

Birthday, Christmas, and occasional unexpected grandparent generosity blessed my son with several cash gifts. Thinking it would be the ideal time to invest in fundamental financial management, he and I went on an adventure to secure his small treasure.

Three lady tellers appeared eager to wait on my adorable little guy when we walked into the bank. He clutched his loot in a yellow plastic lunch box with a cartoon dinosaur plastered on the top.

I explained that opening his very own account was to instill an appreciation of dealing with money at a tender age. If he wanted to buy something, the process of cashing a check and seeing the balance deplete would be a great lesson.

What lofty ideas a parent can blindly embrace before hitting the wall of reality!

The teller who helped us seemed delighted as she leaned over the tall counter to see him. Still grinning, the other two also appeared to enjoy this sweet, novice client moment.

She explained with the patience of a kindergarten teacher, “I will put your money in a great big safe, and when you need it, your parents can help you write a check.”

My child frowned a little as he held the lunch box tighter. Did he think she was about to swoop down and steal it?”

“Show me!”

“Show you what, dear?”

“I want to see that place you’re going to put my money.”

Not knowing how all this worked, he was genuinely concerned about the disposition of his modest wealth.

“Customers are not allowed in there,” she said, “but if your mom can hold you up high for a second, I think you will see a tiny bit of the big vault in the back.”

After he was semi-convinced about the safety of this deposit, he slowly opened his unique little pretend-briefcase and watched as she counted dollars and coins. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it might as well have been gold.

Armed with a temporary checkbook, he could hardly wait to show his dad (a financial planner) what big-boy thing he had accomplished.

One day at the ATM, I muttered aloud in front of him, “I’d better check the balance before I write a check.”

Full of confidence and wobbly knowledge and riding shotgun with his feet nowhere near touching the floor, he did not hesitate to give me clear instructions.

“Mom, here’s what you do. Just put your little card in the slot, and then all the money you want shoots right out of that place on the front of the machine. It’s so easy!”

Suddenly, I realized how premature we had been in our rush to teach a concept to a child that even some adults don’t seem to understand. He was only beginning to learn two plus two.

Most people realize that funds must be in the bank before we can access them, but isn’t it interesting how easily we embrace the computer axiom, Garbage in--Garbage out, and yet often forget that we need a healthy balance in our human accounts as well? Moral values and coping skills must be deposited to give us tools to function as God intended.

Even seemingly small inputs can produce compounded interest for a lifetime. Start with the Golden Rule. To treat others the way we want to be treated is a sound base for opening a bank of accountability in a person’s soul and spirit.

If we build on increasingly more significant deposits taken directly from God’s WORD our children have a better chance of keeping eternal benefits in their bank from which to withdraw peace, power, comfort, guidance, and wisdom.

This week, the owner of that long-ago yellow lunch box came for a visit from out of state. Looking up at him and deeply appreciating his many skills and talents, I watched him easily install new window blinds for me. He did not need a ladder. It was hard to believe there was a time his feet didn’t reach the floor in the car.

I pray that all the Scriptural nuggets deposited to his spiritual account when he was a child will always be readily available to support him and will yield dividends of faith for the rest of his life. That thought sends my smile-meter reading higher than the sky!

_____
*TRUE


Proverbs 22:6 (NLT)
Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

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