The Widow's Mite
The widow with two coins. We have all heard the story. Recently, as I was reading through the Gospel, I came upon this passage. Personally, I have loved this passage for a long time, but mostly because of the widow's humility. When I prayed through the Scripture this time, I decided to put myself in her shoes, giving up my whole livelihood as she did. As a Sister, when I made my vows, I wanted to give everything to God, and continue to strive to do just that each and every day. So as I stepped into the story and walked up to put my two coins, to put everything I owned into the treasury, a sudden realization came over me. I have been aiming to give God everything, every part of me. And although I knew it before, it struck me right then that "everything" includes my past and my future, too. That means that, in those two little coins, I give to Him all the parts of me that that I wished were not there, all of the struggles of the past, any sufferings endured. But even more, I realized that it meant giving Him not only what will become of my future, but also all of its potential.
And so, for just a moment, I stood there with the coins between the tips of my fingers and my thumb. I looked around the room, but no one was paying any attention to me. Then I saw a man by the door whose eyes met mine with such love and peace. All He did was smile at me. I knew that it was the Lord, and by the way He was smiling, I could tell that He was leaving the decision up to me. I could put in both coins, just one, or neither of them. I held His gaze for a moment longer, and then, without even looking back down at the coins, peacefully let go of them and walked away. As I passed through the people whispering and chuckling on either side of me, I bowed my head toward the Lord before leaving. Other people might not consider my two little coins to count for much of anything, and sometimes, I feel the same way. But it doesn't matter what other people think, because all that matters is that Jesus is pleased with the offering.
