Here in Virginia our church has been participating in a food drive for S.E.R.V.E. It’s a local food pantry for Stafford County. The food drive has been going on this time of the year for a number of years, and it is part of our “day of service”. We do other things too. This year the goal was to raise 3000 pounds of food. We gathered close to 4000. This is all good for Stafford County families in need.
As part of the process I was able to witness an example of “the widow’s mites” in action. One version of the original story is in Mark 12:
41 ¶ And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
Here is how my experience went. As a part of the food drive, we reached out to our neighborhood through the app that virtually every person living here is a member of. Our neighborhood is somewhat affluent. We sent the message to them asking them to put items from a specific list into a bag and leave it on their doorstep. We let them know that we’d go around the neighborhood that Saturday at a specific time to gather the bags and get them to S.H.A.R.E. There are about 30 homes in this subdivision. Only one of them (aside from us) left food out for us to pick up.
A few days later I got a note from Sister Shirley from our ward. The high school that her children attend had a food drive where they asked the kids to bring in food from a list. The school intended to share the food with students in need, but didn’t have a plan on how to distribute the food. The kids were not interested in carrying food home on the bus for other kids to see. Sister Shirley mentioned what our church was doing and asked me if the scouts could pick up the food at the school and drop it off at S.H.A.R.E. There really was no way to do that so my wife went and got it. She and I put it into bags, and put the bags into the collection box at our church building.
Here is where the widow’s mite comes in. As we were bagging things up I noticed that some young high schooler had added two individual packets of instant oatmeal. Think about that for a minute. Among all the cans and boxes of food there were these two individual packets. I could easily imagine that here was a kid who wanted to be part of the food drive, but probably had little enough food in their own family. Despite the tight family circumstance they did the one thing they could see to do, add this small amount to the collection.
I hope those in our neighborhood who are comfortable will be more open in the future. I’m sure that Heavenly Father is mindful of this meager donation given out of want. Our lesson this past Sunday in the Priest Quorum was about service. We read from Matthew 25:
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
One of the things we noted in class was that the King didn’t focus on just that they were keeping the commandments, or that they prayed often. Rather he focused on the service they did. In other words it’s not enough to refrain from doing negatives, we must also actively do positives if we seek to be like him.
As part of the process I was able to witness an example of “the widow’s mites” in action. One version of the original story is in Mark 12:
41 ¶ And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
Here is how my experience went. As a part of the food drive, we reached out to our neighborhood through the app that virtually every person living here is a member of. Our neighborhood is somewhat affluent. We sent the message to them asking them to put items from a specific list into a bag and leave it on their doorstep. We let them know that we’d go around the neighborhood that Saturday at a specific time to gather the bags and get them to S.H.A.R.E. There are about 30 homes in this subdivision. Only one of them (aside from us) left food out for us to pick up.
A few days later I got a note from Sister Shirley from our ward. The high school that her children attend had a food drive where they asked the kids to bring in food from a list. The school intended to share the food with students in need, but didn’t have a plan on how to distribute the food. The kids were not interested in carrying food home on the bus for other kids to see. Sister Shirley mentioned what our church was doing and asked me if the scouts could pick up the food at the school and drop it off at S.H.A.R.E. There really was no way to do that so my wife went and got it. She and I put it into bags, and put the bags into the collection box at our church building.
Here is where the widow’s mite comes in. As we were bagging things up I noticed that some young high schooler had added two individual packets of instant oatmeal. Think about that for a minute. Among all the cans and boxes of food there were these two individual packets. I could easily imagine that here was a kid who wanted to be part of the food drive, but probably had little enough food in their own family. Despite the tight family circumstance they did the one thing they could see to do, add this small amount to the collection.
I hope those in our neighborhood who are comfortable will be more open in the future. I’m sure that Heavenly Father is mindful of this meager donation given out of want. Our lesson this past Sunday in the Priest Quorum was about service. We read from Matthew 25:
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
One of the things we noted in class was that the King didn’t focus on just that they were keeping the commandments, or that they prayed often. Rather he focused on the service they did. In other words it’s not enough to refrain from doing negatives, we must also actively do positives if we seek to be like him.
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