And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury.  And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins.  And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all, for they all out of their surplus put into the offering.  But she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.”  Luke 21:1-4

All that she had to live on?  What kind of retirement planning is that?  Doesn’t she know that she will be a burden on those around her?  Surely even those two copper coins could have been invested, perhaps combined with microfinance, to grow into something more substantial.  Or even if spent for her own support, didn’t she owe to others contributing to her support the resources she had, meager as they were?

As a widow, with no social security, no safety net, these two copper coins were it.  This was the bottom of the barrel.

These contributions were freewill gifts.  They were not tithes or taxes.  They were not obligatory.  No one was required to put in anything at all.

I struggle with this.  I worry about the future.  Will there be enough?  Will I stay healthy long enough to work and earn to save enough for years when I cannot work?  And so I am selfish.  I would never have put in those two copper coins.

What was she thinking?

She was thinking she lived in in open system, not a closed one.

A closed system is one where it is just us, and it is all up to us.  An open system is one where God, who by His divine nature is not domesticated in our world and is not us, but created and loves us, speaks, moves and intervenes, beyond our human power and limitations into our world.

Doubtful the widow would have framed it in these terms.  But she understood that her source, her supply, her future was not solely up to her.  Her provision was not up to what she knew about, could see or could control.  She knew, understood and trusted that God who had sustained her all these years would continue to do so.  Her future was not up to her own resources or self-sufficiency.

Closed system thinking leads to selfishness, worry, anxiety and hoarding.  It’s not just that we are inclined toward self-gratification and indulgence.  Closed system thinking is that where one believes the only resources will be human ones.  We are in charge.  We are masters of our destiny.  In a closed system the thinking leads to desperation, manipulation and striving for control.

Closed system thinking trusts only our own human resources.  Open system thinking trusts God.

We are not in a closed system, where it is all up to us.  We are not alone.  We are not isolated.

The widow understood that in an open system, what makes it open is that God steps into it.  He intervenes.  He sees.  He acts.  Because He loves.  Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice.  Every hair on our heads is numbered.

God has a record.  It is a record of faithfulness, abundant provision and generosity.  We have His record in our own personal lives, the lives around us, and throughout human history recorded in scripture.  The fact that sometimes we think God did not intervene in the way or timing we think He should have puts us in judgment of God.  Trust me:  we do not have the full information or status to make such judgments.  God’s enormous record of unspeakable generosity, faithfulness and provision stands unassailable.

And so she gave a gift.  It was all that she had to live on.  She could do so because she understood that while those two copper coins where all of what she possessed to live on, it was not all of Who she possessed to depend on, or more accurately, Who possessed her.

She is reminiscent of Anna, the widow whose husband had died 7 years after they were married, and she then lived at least to the age of 84, never leaving the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.  At that advanced age she had the remarkable privilege of being present when the Christ Child was dedicated in the temple and prophesying over him.  Perhaps Jesus had been told that narrative from His infancy and had Anna in mind as he saw this widow put in her two copper coins.  These were two women who had their priorities right, their thinking right, and their trust in the right place.

Or perhaps Jesus was thinking of Hagar.  Hagar had served as surrogate mother to bear Abraham’s son, Ishmael.  Twice she was alone in the wilderness without provision facing certain death.  The first time she fled from Sarah’s hostility.  The second time, this time with her teenage son, she was dispatched and abandoned.  As a single mother in that culture she had no status, no provision and no future.  She suffered abuse from Sarah, and Abraham failed to protect or provide for her.  Hagar had closed system thinking.  With no provision, she expected twice to die.  But God opened her eyes to see His intervention and provision.

Or perhaps Jesus was thinking of the widow and her son encountered by Elijah, who experienced God’s sufficient provision through times of famine.  Or of Joseph through whom God prophetically spoke to store up during good years, and then had abundance to share during lean years.

May He open our eyes, my eyes, especially in times of great need, to see His ready provision.  Rather than hoard, may we trust.

It is in trusting that the door is open for us to be freely generous, not just with the surplus, but right down to those last few meager crumbs we have to live on.  Because we know with God we need not fear reaching the bottom of the barrel.  Our provision is not limited to the barrel.  He fills.  He refills.  He overflows.  Our cup overflows.  He sets before us His banquet table.

And so we can trust.  And so we can be generous.

We can open our hand and stop tightly gripping the little we have.  We can open our hand, give, release, and place our hand in His hand.

That is what she was thinking.

May I possess her thinking.

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