"Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."
-Mark 12:43-44

Every day, you and I are asked for something. With election season at its climax, we're asked for our vote. Ads and commercials in every media imaginable ask us to make a purchase. Charitable organizations ask us for money. Campus groups ask for our involvement. Professors ask for our best work. Families ask for our attention. Friends ask for our time. Campus ministers invite us to participate in campus ministry. Each one of us has to make a decision, many times each day, about how we'll give of ourselves: how we'll give of our time, how we'll give of our money, our attention, our love.

It can be daunting, sometimes, to try and discern how it is that we're to give of ourselves. When do we say no? When do we say yes? And once we've said yes, how do we know when we've given enough?

But let me complicate things just a little bit more. God asks to give--not out of our abundance, not just when it is easy or convenient or when it doesn't cost us anything. God asks to give of our very selves, to give out of what is most precious to us. Does this mean that being faithful to God means never saying no? I doubt it.

How do we bring it all together? How do we learn to be generous, while still remaining vibrant enough in our own living that we are still able to give something worthwhile?

A favorite writer, Dorothy Butler Bass, writes that "our spirituality is our capacity to relate to God, to other human beings, and to the natural world... It is about the kinds of persons we are and the kinds of persons we hope to become." She suggests that, in all things, faith is about drawing nearer to God and one another. Sometimes, we need to give of ourselves to do that. Sometimes, we need to say no. But when we say no, it's really part of a bigger 'yes'--we turn down one thing top be more open to something else.

This week, try to look at life in a new way. Think of saying yes to God... and when everyone comes knocking on your door, tell them yes, if God calls you to, or tell them no, as a way of saying yes to God. But in your yes and your no, do it with gladness, with conviction, with trust... for saying yes to God is always more important than the other questions that come your way. Let your no be kind but honest, and let your yes be generous. In this way, we learn to give for the right reasons--not to build up our egos, but to grow closer to God. And that's what Jesus had been talking about all along.