Value
The Widow’s Offering
41 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. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Mark 12:41-44 (NIV)
A penny never changes its value, a penny equals a penny-period. When does a penny become more valuable? When a penny hangs around four other pennies - now it is worth a nickel (5 cents). If the one penny hangs around nine pennies now it is worth a dime (10 cents). If that one penny hangs around nineteen other pennies it is now valued as twenty cents (20 cents), and if the one penny will hang around twenty-four other pennies it is now worth a quarter (25 cents).
A part of a whole - a piece of a puzzle. Its value never actually changes but its worth grows by being in a group. Likewise, my worth grows when I am part of a collective. But…everyone in the collective is still equal - each one holds the true value of a penny - no better and no worse. We are equal but when we come together we all become valuable.
I’ve spent too much time trying to stop myself from being a penny. How many wasted hours did I try to force myself to become a quarter? My problem was that I always tried to do this alone. My value never grows when I am alone, only my frustration does - only when I become part of a group of my peers do we become valuable together.
This widow didn’t have much to give (she did give her all though). She understood that what little she had joined in with the collective could help many. What she gave mattered, no matter what the perceived value may have been separately. The worth of what she gave rose because it was joined with the other contributions. I am a penny and I will always be a penny that is my value but, my worth can be whatever I open myself up to be. If I am one penny in 100,000,000 pennies, I am now worth a million bucks! If you want to find your worth and not just your value - stay connected to others.
