There lived a rich man. He helped the poor and everyone loved him very much. In his room there was a large iron piggy bank nailed to the wall, and above it was written in gold letters: “God’s piggy bank.” When the Lord sent joy to the rich man - christening, Angel Day or something else - then his wife usually said to him:
“God has given us plenty of everything, invite a full house of guests, let people rejoice with us.”
- How many people should you invite? - he asks his wife.
“Well, at least forty people,” the wife answers. Rich man, it used to be. He will think and say:
“You know, my darling, there are a lot of poor people now, many of their children are crying from hunger and can’t sleep.” So wouldn’t it be better to invite twenty people to join us? And what would be used for wine and food for the other twenty, I will put in God’s piggy bank.
That's what he usually did.
A good person would read or hear about some misfortune—a fire, a flood—and would immediately say to himself: “God, You saved me from such a misfortune!” and again throws the thanksgiving sacrifice into the piggy bank.
It used to be that a merchant would come to a rich man with goods. The rich man looks at this or that product and goes for the money. Suddenly he accidentally looks at the piggy bank and says to himself: “Wait, why do you need so much? You can get by with half.” And he will take half less of everything, and throw what he had to pay for the other half into God’s piggy bank.
Day after day, year after year, towards old age the rich man accumulated a huge amount of money in his piggy bank.
Before his death, he called the old people of the village where he lived to him and told them: “Without taking a penny from my children, I collected a lot of goods for God’s work. I walked less, scattered less than I could. What I could have wasted, you will find in this piggy bank.”
Opening the piggy bank, the old people found a huge amount in it and shed tears of joy. When the rich man gave his soul to God, people called him their benefactor. The memory of this kind man will never disappear in his homeland. For centuries, descendants will be reminded of him by those that came out of God's treasure chest - a shelter for children, a school, a hospital and a new stone church.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru