Sam Levenson described how his Jewish momma would always bargain with shopkeepers – even for the smallest items. He said he remembered her asking a greengrocer how much the cucumbers were. The greengrocer said they were two for five cents. So she picked one up and said: ‘How much for this one?’ ‘Three cents,’ he said. So she put it down, picked up another and said: ‘Well I’ll take this one,’ and gave him two cents.
It reminds me of a story Jesus told about a crooked manager who secured his own future by doing deals with his boss’s clients to the expense of his own boss. Referring to this Jesus said: ‘I want you to be smart like that, but for things that are good;’ meaning that if we paid as much attention to the good of our souls as wordly people do to their finances, we’d be much happier people.