Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Daily Devotional
[Jesus said,] ?This poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury.? ?Mark 12:43
n 1987, Mike Hayes, a freshman at the University of Illinois, found a unique way to finance his education. He convinced a popular columnist at the Chicago Tribune to ask his readers to ?send in a penny for Mike.?
?Just one penny,? Hayes said. ?A penny doesn?t mean anything to anyone. If everyone . . . looks around the room right now, there will be a penny under the couch cushion . . . or on the floor. That?s all I?m asking. A penny from each of your readers.?
In less than a month the fund was up to 2.3 million cents. Donations came in from all over the US, as well as Mexico, Canada, and the Bahamas. Mike eventually ended up with $28,000!
The common cent just isn?t worth much?unless it?s added to a whole bunch of other pennies. The woman we read about in Mark 12 gave the equivalent of a fraction of a penny, which was ?all that she had? (v.44). But Jesus honored that little bit.
The widow?s sacrifice was an example and an encouragement to the disciples?and to us. She gave all she had. Have we ever been so generous? Jesus used an unnamed widow to teach us what giving is all about.
It was less than a cent, yet it was a priceless gift of love to God. ? Cindy Hess Kasper
One grace each child of God can show
Is giving from a willing heart;
Yet, if we wait till riches grow,
It well may be we?ll never start. ?D. De Haan
God looks at the heart, not the hand; the giver, not the gift.