Those Mighty Mites

Sometimes there are events that occur in our lives whose poignancy is such that we are left speechless.

As you know from previous entries, Diana has been on bedrest for the past few weeks as we await the arrival of the newest addition to our family and so I have assumed many of her matronly roles around the house – from preparing food to childcare to any other jobs that need to be done. It has not been easy, but we have been blessed by many at our congregation that have reached out a helping hand to our family, aiding us greatly in many areas that we currently struggle with. We are thankful to all, but there was one certain bit of help from last night that has greatly resonated with me over the past several hours and I wanted to share it with you today.

There is a young single mother at our church whom we feel a great affection for that has had an extremely tough road in life. Her decision-making has often been poor and her problems have been many, leading her to the situation in which she currently finds herself. It is a tough situation in which she, along with two of her children, have been forced to move in with another friend of ours as she works to get her life back on track.

Yesterday afternoon, this young woman telephoned Diana and stated that she would be bringing us dinner that evening. Knowing that she would have to use the food stamps on which she and her children live, Diana tried and tried to dissuade her, but she would not be denied. In her words, she said, “I want to help and this is the one thing I can do.”

Later that night, after feasting on the pasta and bread that she had presented to us earlier, I was reflecting on the occurrences of earlier and struck by the great gift that we had received. She had very little and yet saw an opportunity to serve and rose to meet it in whatever way she could. In our middle-class existence that prevents us from ever having to go without, the effect was particularly humbling.

I was reminded of the story from the Gospel of Luke of the poor widow giving her last two mites to the timple. Though she could not afford to do it, she gave what little she had because of a strong conviction that it was the right thing to do, and you will notice in the story that Jesus did not try to stop her. He allowed her to place the last pieces of money that she had in the coffers.

Though Diana initially tried to stop the young woman from giving this to us, the more I thought about it later, the more glad I was that she was not able to. She had made up her mind to give this to us because of her personal convictions, making this one of the greatest gifts we could have received. It was truly humbling.

About these ads