There's money to be found if only you look down.

Times are tough, I will admit. People are losing their jobs. They can't keep up with their house payments. The bills are piling up. It's a bad scene out there for many right now.

It's been a little tight for us, too, but thankfully we are doing OK. I remain convinced that we will be all right, mainly because God takes care of His kids. And we are His kids.

But there are things we need to do on our end, too: work hard, save, and help those worse off than we.

There may come a time when the whole family will have to find work to make the household function. I dread the idea of my kids having to get a paper route or something and then have to fork over their hard-earned dollars to have to keep meat on the table. That is my job. But if that is what needs to happen, then fine. Such sacrifices will knit our family together even more tightly. My grandparents had to endure hardships and they prevailed. Should our economy get worse and a depression befall our generation, may we show the same fortitude to withstand it and come out better on the other side.

But for all this spectre of depression, rice and bean dinners and barely scraping by, I am encouraged with the knowledge that there is money to be had, and it's under all our noses. As I tell my youngest daughter: "There's money to be found, if only you look down."

It's true.

Next time you're out walking downtown or even along your street, look down. Guaranteed, after a while you will find at least a penny. Perhaps you'll get lucky and find something more. Yesterday when I was on my scooter at a stop light, I spied a quarter and a penny on the side of the road. I pulled over and picked them up. Earlier in the day I found a penny. Today I found a penny in a parking lot. Go through the drive-thru and you will find at least 10 cents in the lane by the window. At the grocery store you will find a nickel by the pay phone. Money is to be found everywhere! I average a penny a day, at least. That's $3.65 a year.

You may scoff, "Big deal." It is a big deal. $3.65 will buy at least a jug of milk or a gallon of gas when you need it the most.

There was a time when people would get real excited at finding money on the street. It doesn't seem so these days. In fact, people throw their money away, even in these tough times. I think that's silly. I am sure there's millions out there to be found because people either are just careless or don't think a penny, nickel, dime or quarter amounts to much. Find them and we're talking dollars!

When it's getting late into the month and there are a few days until payday and you've run out of cash, and you've also run out of milk or diapers, and you see your kids' faces and you want their little smiles to remain smiles, AND you know that if you don't do something, life could be bad, you remember that you've been tossing found money into a jar. You then can thank God and rest easy in knowing that everything is going to be OK.

Bill