“As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. I tell you the truth, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Walking around the Home of Hope, a Christian organization that takes care of people who are dying on the streets, women were everywhere. Some women were laying on the ground with mosquitoes swarming their mouths. Some women were hanging out with friends they met at the center. Then I met her, a woman who will forever change my perspective on giving all you have.
Here she was, sitting under a tree outside at the center. This woman had no legs, half painted nails from a previous team who had been there, and was sitting on probably what was all of her belongings. After feeling led to talk to her, we tried communicating despite language barriers. She then proceeded to grab a sack cloth bag below her that she was sitting on. Her prized possessions were rolled in two bags, for extra protection. She took them out to show me with a smile that even her eyes lit up.
In her hand she held out eight seeds that had fallen from the tree above her. These seeds she kept as her gift from the Lord. They had fallen from the tree into the area that she sat probably every day since she had been at the center. They were a gift given directly to her that she had collected.
She was extending her seeds to me. She was giving me her most treasured possession.
Trying not to cry, I looked for more seeds for her around the tree. I found one a distance away and gave it to her. One would think I had given her a trip to Disney World based off of her smile.
This beautiful woman represents the widow in Luke 21. She literally had nothing and was still giving what she had to bring joy to others.
Never again will I think about giving in the same manner.
