Last night, my baby had a case of insomnia. She wasn’t sick. She wasn’t crying. She just wasn’t sleeping. And while I lay down with her, trying to get her back to sleep, I was thinking of the widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44).
Jesus was sitting in the temple watching all the people come and donating money to the poor. Some of the people were rich and gave quite a bit. But To the Savior, those two mites were worth more than all the other riches that had been cast in the treasury. Her sacrifice was worth more because she was able to give everything she had. The rich men who had more, could not part with it all and so their gifts were considered smaller.
Bruce R. McConkie has said, “When it costs us but little to give, the treasure laid up in heaven is a small one” (Bruce R. McConkie, “Obedience, Consecration, and Sacrifice,” Ensign, May 1975, 50). And one of the Mormon hymns tells us that it is sacrifice that “brings forth the blessings of heaven.”
As I continued to rub my baby’s back and sing softly to her, I pondered what parts of myself I am holding back from the Lord. What gifts have I been given? What blessings has he imparted to me that I am unwilling to share? I considered myself lying there in the dark, losing sleep to comfort my daughter and felt that surely that was acceptable to the Lord. But there are times when I am selfish with my time and resources–when I am more concerned with myself than I am about helping others who are desperately in need of God’s blessings. Sometimes I feel like I have so very little energy, time, money, patience or even desire to act that surely I must be one of the needy ones who requires the assistance!
I wonder if that’s how the widow felt? What exactly was she thinking when she gave up the last of her money as an offering to the Lord to help those who had so much less than she had? Was it hard for her? Or did she have so much gratitude and love in her heart that it was a simple thing to do? Did she go home worrying what she would eat for dinner that night? Or did she walk home happy and full of faith that the Lord would provide for her as he always had in the past? Surely, it must have warmed her heart to think that her money could help feed a child. She had to have felt the pleasure of God.
It also makes me think of other mites that are offered to me. How do I receive them? In particular, I am thinking of my children. They often give all of their loving to me. They surprise me by making my bed. They draw pictures for me. They pick dandelion flowers to give to me. They make a sandwich for a younger sibling. Unfortunately, many times I just notice the fact that I would rather have them pick up their toys in the living room than make my bed. I get frustrated with having to find someplace to put dead dandelion flowers or hang pictures. I only see the mess left in the kitchen with the peanut butter out and the bread spilled on the floor. And it makes me want to see things through the Savior’s eyes. My children may not be able to give me a king’s ransom yet. All they have is just their two little mites. But I should know that giving those freely is worth more than the greatest treasure in the world.
