Introduction

We’ve all seen them. Sometimes we step over them and keep walking, hardly taking notice. Sometimes we stop and pick them up. They are wet, dirty, scratched, smelly, of little value, and ordinary. Ordinary. What is unique about them? They are everywhere. They are pennies. Many of us have jars full of pennies somewhere that we are saving for something. Only, that something seems to never come, or what we have saved is never enough. Perhaps that is why they end up in the street, they are not considered to have much value. What is one penny among the hundred it takes to make up a dollar? And what could you spend that one dollar on? Nowadays one dollar will get you a candy bar or a can of pop. Where is the value in the one penny? And yet, we pick them up. Why? Why pick up a penny? What can it do for you? What difference can one penny make? Why does it matter? That penny matters because it is here. It was made and it was made for a reason. That penny does matter. If it did not matter it would never have been created or picked up off of the street.

We are all pennies in one way or another. Dirty, hurting, scratched, lost, feeling worthless and ordinary, the street has become our home. We cannot remember anything else besides the gutter. Is there anything else out there? It has been so long I can’t remember. Then, suddenly, someone comes by, bends over, picks us up, brushes the dirt off, and puts us in His pocket. Why? He saw more value in us than we saw in ourselves. Instead of ordinary, He sees unique. Instead of worthless, full of hidden value. Instead of lost, hurt, and dirty, He sees us clean, whole, and perfect. Why does He see these in us? Because He created each and every one of us. He knows what we were made for and He did not make us to be lost and on the street. He has a special plan for each of us pennies.

What do you do with a penny that you pick up off of the street? First you clean it. Wipe away the dirt and the grime. Then you restore the penny. Sometimes they can be so full of junk that they no longer look like a penny. They need to be polished and buffed so they look new again. Then you use the penny. Use it for what it was created to be used for. This is why I have separated this blog into three sections:

I. Clean the Penny

II. Restore the Penny

III. Use the Penny (for its designed purpose)

Each section is a step in the process. 

This is a blog of quotes, but it is not like any blog you have ever seen before. You may recognize some names quoted, but others you will not. From Presidents of the United States of America to High School students to personal friends. They are all pennies, and all have something to say. Some of the most profound quotes I have ever read came from people I never heard of before and will probably never hear of again.

One penny can make a difference. One penny, named Washington, helped make this a free country. One penny, named Hitler, picked up a country that was left in pieces after WWI, and turned it into a force that, only thirty year later, almost took over the world. He might have succeeded, except one penny,  Winston Churchill, helped to stop him. It was one penny called Martin Luther King Jr. who stood up for the rights of blacks everywhere, and another penny who killed him. One person, one penny, can and will make a difference. What kind of a difference will you make? Will you be a George Washington, a Winston Churchill, a Martin Luther King Jr.? Or will you be a Hitler? Or a Stalin? As you read this book don’t just read quotes and things people said, remember they are all pennies, many of them ordinary, every day people, just like you. Let this book inspire you to reach beyond yourself to something eternal. What is the Value of a Penny? Sometimes, it is priceless.