"for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."
~ Mark 12:44
The widow, giving her mites. Out of her poverty. The little she had.
I know this scripture refers to financial giving, but I dove deeper this morning, looking beyond the surface.
I considered my personal giving. Giving of myself. My heart. My time. My listening ear. My service. My love. My cup of sugar. My encouragement. My counsel. My good word.
We all have days when we feel stretched beyond ourselves. We feel like an empty vessel with nothing more to pour out. We wrestle with the poverty of our personal lives. We feel we have nothing left to give of ourselves. Drained. Dry. No abundance today.
Yet the widow gave out of her poverty. Can we do the same? Can we face our deficiency and trust God to pour into us what He's requiring us to pour out into another? Can we gather up vessels and set them out for God to pour His anointing oil into? It's His anointing, after all. It all belongs to Him before it ever becomes ours. Can we put Him in first place and allow Him to work through us and our poverty?
It's when we are weak that He is strong. Can we give Him our entire livelihood today, despite what we feel inside? Can we go to Him, confessing our deficit, allowing Him to fill us up and bring us back to abundance? We certainly need to try.
Through putting our trust in Him, we will persevere through the trying times of life and pursue His abundance. His abundant grace. His abundant mercy. His abundant love. His abundant blessing. His abundant favor.
Because if He noticed a poor widow giving out of her poverty, her entire livelihood, He's certain to notice us giving our all, too.
Beautifully written, Alycia!
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