He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
~ Luke 21:1-4
The other day I got a snail mail from a god-daughter by snail mail, instead of the usual email or a text or a PM on Facebook. the act is both symbolic and real. She is simplifying her life and this includes abstaining or at least minimizing her use of technology. She has also simplified her diet, her wardrobe and her lifestyle. She lives with a community of volunteers in the poorer quarters of Chicago. Their community tries to live in solidarity with the millions of people worldwide who live on two dollars a day. And in the simplicity and poverty of their chosen lifestyle, they try to serve the underserved and the fringes in their neighborhood with what ever is left with them: their time, their care, their compassion and their love.
I was blown away reading her letter. I could see in her the same idealism that burned in my soul when I was her age. But I was nowhere near her commitment to live out those ideals in actual and real life. Eventually, she wants to be a doctor. Not to get rich but to help and serve the poor and the indigents. Her generosity is simply overwhelming. She is giving out of her abundance without holding anything back. And in the resulting emptiness and gap that she has created, she is finding herself and discovering her cup has been pressed down, shaken together and filled to overflowing.
May the Lord be with you, Lily!