Two Sides of the Coin

There are two sides to this coin.

I walk in my neighborhood, just like everyday, only now I see neighbors I have never met before. There they are, now walking down the road in the middle of the day, enjoying fresh air. The coin is heads up.

I return home, catch a snippet of not so great news -terrible, even. Maybe my neighbors do, too. The coin flips. Tails.

I think of this time at home. The extra snuggle and baking and reading, perhaps some worthy projects. The stuff some of us have craved. A pause. A rest. A reset.

Then I think of those who are forced by trade and responsibility to go out and work, fight even, for health and the good of others, to help. I feel the weight of their sacrifice. I feel guilty even.

The coin flips yet again.

All day with the ones you love and nowhere to go. Flip.

More dishes for all the eating at home. More snacks, more clean up. Balancing school and work and housework. The more time, less time continuum goes on, just here inside your four walls.

The concern for safety, the worry. More washing- the floors, the clothes, everything we touch, our hands a hundred times, our groceries even.

The song that gives you hope, that seems to reach into your bones and embolden you. Flip.

Baked bread in the middle of the day. The smell, the joy of it. Flip.

You remember you baked it because there was bread at the grocery store. Flip.

Two sides of the coin. The blessings and the immense challenges. The interdependence and vulnerability of society, and the flip side of personal responsibility. The individual as well as the team effort. Faith in the human spirit and resilience, yet, ultimately, dependence on a gracious God.

I had been finding a lot of coins in the last months, before all of this. Around my house, on the street. I would look for the head to be upon. Most of the time, it was. I would take it as a good sign. I even found one the other day. Right there in the middle of the road as I ran a few mornings ago. I was listening to a podcast, running to find hope and to try to shake off a bit of the eery feeling many of us have right now. I stopped when I saw that penny, took a picture. Grasped for hope. A penny heads up.

But really, what does heads up or heads down mean except for the value that we place on it?

Because nothing has only one side. No coin, no dollar. No lesson, no opportunity, no gain, no experience. There is never just one side. Every heads up has a tail.

Now matter how something comes to you, whether it is found, earned, or gained, a surprise or sought, there are two sides. Much like a coin, these experiences are currency.

Here, on either side, there is opportunity.

Each coin has only the value that you give it, that we give it collectively as a society. So when the coin flips back and forth, back and forth, may you see it all as value. To teach you, to guide you, to help you to grow. In grace as well as in strength.

When one side of the coin or the other shows itself to you, may you find the value that is to be found there. The inherent value of the human experience and the truth that you can and will find what it takes to make it. To improve, even in the incredible face of challenges.

Because I’ve heard of stacking dimes. But sometimes, all you can stack is the pennies you can find. Using what you have to make life better, one small thing at a time. No matter what, Life improves as you count the things of value. You will always have enough if you look for the treasures, no matter what side you found them on.