Some Gave All Part 2

As she carefully made her way down the steps, voices caught her attention.

Her heart beat faster.
She was afraid to look up.
It must be the elders.
They were going to ridicule her for giving so little.
Why did she come anyway? She should have just kept her little copper coins and stayed in her pitiful little house.

The few seconds seemed like an eternity.
In that "eternity" shame washed over her like a wave in the sea.

What?
What did she just hear?

She summoned the courage to look up.

She looked into the eyes of the man speaking. There were a dozen or so other men around him. It seemed that the entire temple area was now looking at her!

But, instead of the shame she felt a few seconds ago, she now felt a peace and a warmth she had never experienced!

What was happening?
And what did he just say?

Time appeared frozen in those few seconds. She retraced her memory and found his words:

"I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

How did he know?
How, .... How could he know?

He looked directly into her eyes.

She felt..... She felt such love!
Such peace!
Such VALUE!

How could this be?

Who is this man?

Where shame had washed over her before, dignity now poured into whole being.

She glanced again at the people around this man.
Instead of the invisibility she usually experienced, they looked at her with respect!

The clank of more coins in the collection box jolted her from her "frozen" state.

She smiled a shy smile and turned for home.
He smiled back with appreciation and again, that look of love.

Her stomach growled again.
Another reminder of the realness of her poverty.

She retraced her steps home.

But this time her head wasn't hung down looking at her sandals.

She looked up and saw her world for the first time in a very long time.

The colors of the city almost overwhelmed her.

The sounds of people were intoxicating:
The laughter of children.
The banter of bartering merchants.
The whispers of women at the well.

Isn't this the same place she had always lived?

She felt like a child going to her first passover feast.

She was almost home.
Would the wonder of the last hour disappear as she stepped through the threshold to her loneliness?

A picture raced through her mind like a flash.
It was of the man at the temple.
His smile.
His warmth.
His love.

Somehow, her life had just changed and she was determined to find out how.
Somehow she knew that loneliness would not be waiting for her inside her home.
Somehow she knew Yahweh would provide her next meal.

She determined one thing in her heart.
She would find out who that man was and how he had just made a difference in her life!

Her hand found its way in her empty pocket.
An hour ago all she had was two copper coins and a heart full of emptiness.
Now, she had an empty pocket and a heart full of hope.

Some gave all.

.......................................................

blessings,
dorinda

(I hope you liked it. If you want to read the Biblical account - go to Luke 21)