The Doctrine:

“Without sacrifice there is no true worship of God. I become increasingly convinced of that every day. ‘The Father gave his Son, and the Son gave his life,’ and we do not worship unless we give—give of our substance, give of our time, give of our strength, give of our talent, give of our faith, give of our testimonies” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 565).

The Application:

Quotes like this one can make us feel a little inferior. God gave His Son, the Son gave His life…what could we possibly have to give that can measure up to all of that?

Today, while reading about the widow’s mite, I had a small epiphany. While this story is usually told to teach the concept of tithing, it can help us understand how God values every other part of our life. This can include our talents and our sacrifices. The story of the widow’s mite isn’t one of tithing; it’s one of consecration.

Jesus was watching people bring their tithing to the temple one day. He took note that many rich people arrived, tossing in their percentage with little concern or thought. They had so much. Their ten percent would hardly make a difference in their way of life. Then he watched as a poor widow paid her tiny little tithing of two mites, and drew attention to her, probably startling her beyond measure. After all, she’d regularly paid her tithing and it was likely no one had ever taken special note of so small a donation. But that day, she made history. Jesus asked everyone to notice her donation, explaining that it was nothing for the wealthy to give their donation, but for her, it was a tremendous sacrifice. She had given so much it would certainly impact her ability to live even at a survival level.

What we learn from this story of consecration is that whatever we have to give, if we give it with the proper spirit, is enough.

“We tend to think of consecration only as yielding up, when divinely directed, our material possessions. But ultimate consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God. Heart, soul, and mind were the encompassing words of Christ in describing the first commandment, which is constantly, not periodically, operative (see Matt. 22:37). If kept, then our performances will, in turn, be fully consecrated for the lasting welfare of our souls (see 2 Ne. 32:9).

Such totality involves the submissive converging of feelings, thoughts, words, and deeds, the very opposite of estrangement: “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?” (Mosiah 5:13) (Neal A. Maxwell, “Consecrate Thy Performance,” Liahona, Jul 2002, 39–42).

I was thinking of consecration in terms of callings. There are a lot of things I’m not good at and sometimes God finds it interesting to put me someplace that is completely outside my comfort zone, experience, and skills. I’m currently serving as the literacy leader, and while teaching people how to read is something I could do, our particular program involves ESL. This was so far outside my comfort zone I couldn’t even imagine doing it. I wanted to do it, and was excited, but I was scared. I am essentially a Primary teacher. Hand me a flannel board and a puppet and I’ll know exactly what to do. Put me in a room full of adults, and I’m clueless.

There are many people in my ward who would be better at this, but of course, they didn’t need that calling. I tackled it with a friend, but I was so scared the first class I was sick to my stomach. Our class consisted of students far more advanced than we’d anticipated and my lesson was a disaster, because when I get nervous, I respond by creating something totally complicated. Naturally, it was so complicated I couldn’t carry it out.

I kept at it, and although I’ll never be the best ESL teacher in the world, I’ve gotten better. I’ve scoured the Internet for information and asked for advice. I’ve prayed, and worried and stressed and tried one new thing after another. What my little class is gaining from studying with me I don’t know, but they keep showing up and I keep teaching. I’m consecrating all I have to the project and God doesn’t say, “Well, she’s working at it, but she’s not very good, so no reward for her.” He values my meager skills in this field as much as he valued the great skills of the teacher who taught my current class before me.

Unlike the world, God doesn’t value the gifted more than the average or even less than average servant. He doesn’t value the Relief Society president more than the new convert called to straighten the hymn books each week. He is looking not at how much talent He gave us, but what we’re doing with what we have. I suspect He appreciates my hours teaching ESL badly on Wednesdays possibly more than he does my nursery lessons on Sundays, because nursery lessons are easy for me and require far less from me than do the ESL lessons. Although I work hard at both callings, the ESL calling requires a greater consecration and sacrifice of time, courage, and faith.

When we’re called on to serve outside our comfort zone, we can picture Jesus sitting nearby, smiling with pride at our widow’s mite of consecration. They may not write about us in scripture, but our story is recorded in God’s heart.