“TIMBER!”
Everyone’s heads swiveled toward Mrs. Wanda’s front yard, where a towering tree fell in a graceful arc across her driveway.
One of the mission team’s objectives that week was to chop down a tree that was leaning dangerously over a power line. Watching it fall, we all breathed a collective side of relief. It would still have to be chopped up for firewood, but at least the risky part was behind us.
Mrs. Wanda’s neighbor dropped by to check our progress and did a double take at the sight of tree. He told us that the tree was a black walnut, and that just last year, he had sold one from his own yard for about $500. We were thrilled and went into the house to tell Mrs. Wanda the good news. We told her about the tree’s possible worth and that AO would help her find a buyer. Thrilled, she ran to find her husband Gary to tell him the news.
Later, Wanda emerged from the house.
“I’ve decided to give whatever money ya’ll get from the tree to Appalachian Outreach,” she said. “Ya’ll have done so much to help us that it is the least we could do.”
Mrs. Wanda needed that money.
Neither she nor her husband was able to work, her mother was in the nursing home and she was tending to her sick friend. I had talked with her enough to know that making ends meet was no easy thing for her family. From week to week, she could barely scrounge up enough money for the essentials.
But still she gave.
Mrs. Wanda gave freely from the depth of her own poverty. When I remember her, I smile, and I think of the story of the widow’s offering.
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’”
Mark 12:43-44
Giving isn’t all about dollars and cents, but it is about sacrifice.
Mrs. Wanda made for an unlikely teacher, but God used her glimmering example to show me a sliver of true generosity.
I couldn’t forget her if I tried.
Everyone’s heads swiveled toward Mrs. Wanda’s front yard, where a towering tree fell in a graceful arc across her driveway.
One of the mission team’s objectives that week was to chop down a tree that was leaning dangerously over a power line. Watching it fall, we all breathed a collective side of relief. It would still have to be chopped up for firewood, but at least the risky part was behind us.
Mrs. Wanda’s neighbor dropped by to check our progress and did a double take at the sight of tree. He told us that the tree was a black walnut, and that just last year, he had sold one from his own yard for about $500. We were thrilled and went into the house to tell Mrs. Wanda the good news. We told her about the tree’s possible worth and that AO would help her find a buyer. Thrilled, she ran to find her husband Gary to tell him the news.
Later, Wanda emerged from the house.
“I’ve decided to give whatever money ya’ll get from the tree to Appalachian Outreach,” she said. “Ya’ll have done so much to help us that it is the least we could do.”
Mrs. Wanda needed that money.
Neither she nor her husband was able to work, her mother was in the nursing home and she was tending to her sick friend. I had talked with her enough to know that making ends meet was no easy thing for her family. From week to week, she could barely scrounge up enough money for the essentials.
But still she gave.
Mrs. Wanda gave freely from the depth of her own poverty. When I remember her, I smile, and I think of the story of the widow’s offering.
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’”
Mark 12:43-44
Giving isn’t all about dollars and cents, but it is about sacrifice.
Mrs. Wanda made for an unlikely teacher, but God used her glimmering example to show me a sliver of true generosity.
I couldn’t forget her if I tried.
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