A Dime For Your Thoughts

Legend has it that Frank Sinatra was buried in a blue suit with a roll of ten dimes – a gift from his daughter, Tina. Why the dimes? The ten dimes signified a bizarre incident in the life of Sinatra and his son, Frank Sinatra, Jr.
At the age of 19, Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped on December 8, 1963. The kidnappers demanded payment of a large ransom from his father. They also demanded that Sinatra contact them only by pay phone. Thus Sinatra carried a roll of dimes with him throughout the ordeal. Carrying a roll of dimes became a lifelong habit for him.
In order to secure his son’s freedom, Sinatra paid the kidnappers' $240,000 ransom demand. His son was released unharmed, two days after he had been kidnapped, on December 10. The kidnappers were later captured, prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to long prison terms. *
There are several lessons we could get from this story, but one that I want us to consider. Remembering our past can be a good thing. It can help us in not making the same mistakes twice. But many times the “dimes” add up and they become baggage. We never get beyond our baggage. We are restricted by the reminder of what we have done and what others may think of us. We hid who we are and the dimes add up.
May we be like King David:
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "— and you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)
Sure the dimes help us remember. But don’t let your memory stifle who you should be and keep you from confessing what you should confess. God is good even if we aren’t.
* Information gleaned from Answers.com and Wikipedia.com

Sid