She Made Change - In Me | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: She Made Change - In Me | Previous Challenge Entry
By Allen Povenmire
01/17/12
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It was a pretty ordinary week of Vacation Bible School, but there was a moment that I won’t forget. Typically on the last night of VBS, parents are invited to come watch some of the programming, music, etc., their children have been involved in during the week. This particular week was no different. Parents, grandparents, and other relatives came into the sanctuary, witnessing an upbeat program and hearing uplifting testimony. Then, the moment happened...I was helping take up an offering, something I’d done hundreds of times. I finished with the back row and headed up the middle aisle of the church, offering plate in hand. As I neared the front of the sanctuary, I heard a woman’s voice behind me. I turned and saw a small, frail looking woman following me up the aisle, with money in her hand. Still nothing that unusual, I’m thinking. Somehow, we’d just missed her. I didn’t recognize the woman; she wasn’t a regular in our church. She was middle-aged, maybe in her 50's, and wasn’t particular well dressed. Since the two of us were standing at the front of the sanctuary, with nothing else going on, no doubt the majority of the audience witnessed what occurred next. The woman approached me with her bill in hand and I held out the plate to accommodate her. I couldn’t help but notice her place a twenty dollar bill on top of the pile of bills already in the plate. I started to turn toward the altar, and she quietly, but firmly said, “Please wait.” I looked at her as she proceeded to rifle through the bills in the plate, looking for change for the twenty she’d placed in the plate. It was sort of a surreal moment, someone making change in the offering plate. I heard a few muffled whispers throughout the sanctuary. I awkwardly waited as she finished her transaction and turned quickly to return to her seat. I put the plate in its appointed place and walked away, still somewhat confounded by what I’d witnessed.

Now, making change in the offering plate has long been a topic of humorists. Jeff Foxworthy has used it in his well-known “You Might Be a Redneck” routines. One of my friends from the church came up to me and asked, “Did I really see what I thought I saw??” We shared a chuckle about the moment. Several others asked me about the moment as well. No one had ever seen what had occurred. But, after the moment had passed further, this lasting thought came to my mind: the woman didn’t have to give anything at all. She had the appearance of one who didn’t have much to give, but she gave anyway. She could have stayed seated, saving herself the pointed attention and probable embarrassment of coming up the aisle. Maybe that twenty dollars represented a great amount to her and her giving a portion of it was really a big deal. It might have been a bigger sacrifice than any of us who initially scoffed at her actions realized.

In the Gospel of Mark 12: 41 - 44, we read:
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.”

Every time I’ve read that passage, I’ve thought of that woman walking up the aisle with her offering. Her humility left a lasting impression on me. Honestly, I’m afraid I would have been too prideful to carry out her act. She’s just one of dozens of nameless people God has used to teach me something I needed. I’m grateful for her lesson.

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