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…but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.
Mark 12:44 ESV

I love this passage in Mark 12. I am amazed how the stories of widows in God’s Word were hardly noticed before I became one! Jesus and His disciples took notice of a widow one day. Here they were in the temple, watching the line of people dropping their money into the treasury.

It is what we AREN’T told that most fascinates me.

• We aren’t told if the widow was young, old, or somewhere in the middle. I googled images of the “widow giving her mites” and found several beautiful paintings of artist renditions. One had the widow with a babe in arms. One had her bent over and weak. One had her with two small children wrapped around her legs. One had her in her older years. I believe it is one of those situations where Christ doesn’t tell us that detail for a reason. Maybe He wants us to see her as ourselves.
• We aren’t told what happened next. I like happy endings in movies, and my husband used to laugh at me about that. I love my “Pollyanna” world. I have imagined an entire book about the ending of this story – all the things we aren’t told but I invent!

What we are told:

In this verse, Jesus tells us that she gave “out of her poverty”. I started mulling over that word poverty. What if, in my life, He is telling me to give out of my bankrupt emotions? What if my poverty is my love? When my husband passed away, I was bankrupt emotionally. I couldn’t handle one more person asking me, “So how ARE you doing?” No more, “Just call if you need ANYTHING.”

My emotional bank was empty and I couldn’t expend one more ounce.

Instead of hiding under the covers, God nudged me to give out of my bankruptcy.

“Really, God? You want me in the nursery? I did my rotation in childcare for several decades and thought I was finished!”

Honestly, it was a bit of relief – these babies never once asked me how I was doing! Week after week, I sat in the rocking chair, holding sweet little infants so their mothers could enjoy Sunday School. And week after week, my emotional bank account grew little by little. I was one of those young mothers once who couldn’t wait to sit in class with other adults! And this commitment gave me a small reason to keep showing up, week after week. Five years later, I am still there. I even look forward to it now. I have gotten to know an entire population of young families I wouldn’t have come in contact with.

Christ commended this widow for giving out of her poverty, not out of her wealth. How do we do it?

Here are three easy steps to follow. No, just joking! It isn’t that easy! We want to get our yellow legal pad out and jot down three easy steps for our Christian walk, but we keep finding out it isn’t that easy. The best advice I have is to just allow God to lead you.

That sounds like a cop-out answer, doesn’t it?

But I believe that’s how God works more often than not. It isn’t about a list of exercises or chants. It is so much more than that. For me, it is like a nudge or a little quiet tap on my shoulder. Once in a while it is a loud, slamming door shutting off my path.

Giving out of our poverty is often much more difficult than giving out of our surplus. That is just like God, isn’t it? Giving out of our poverty means we might say, “God, I don’t have a clue how You are going to make this work, but I trust You to bless it.”

What poverty is God asking you to give from? Is it your mental or emotional poverty? Is it from your empty account of love? Sit quietly today with an expectant heart, asking God for clarity. He gives wisdom to those who ask (James 1).

Father God, nudge us where we need to give from our poverty. Give us eyes to see the direction You are leading us. And take our gift from our poverty and bless it, multiply it, and fill us back up. Amen