The Brown Towel

“And He looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And He said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.” Luke 21:1-4. This poor widow gave all that she had. We may wonder how she managed after that, however i am sure the Lord blessed her immensely. We may have to wait until we get to heaven to hear her story of how the Lord provided for her after she made the supreme sacrifice. I am sure it is an amazing and wonderful story. Here is another story where we do know what happened after someone who was very poor gave sacrificially to the Lord.

One Sunday the ladies from the church Dorcas Society were busily packing a large box that would be sent to some poor foreign missionaries. They were packing the box from donations made by the members of the church.

“One who has nothing can give nothing,” stated Sister Sayers. She had come to help the ladies pack the box but her family was going through a very difficult time at the moment. Her husband was ill and had not been able to work for several months so she had nothing to spare for the missionary box this time. Clothing, linens, and blankets were getting worn out and threadbare, and whatever still was in somewhat a good condition was needed now to replace the worn-out ones.

“A person who has nothing to give must be poor, indeed,” said Sister Bell, shaking her head sadly as she deposited a pair of warm blankets into the box.

Sister Sayers looked at Sister Bell and replied, “You are living a very comfortable life and have everything you need and more. You, who have never known self-denial cannot feel for me, and understand what I am going through.” She continued, “Do you really think a person can be too poor to give?” Sister Sayers was interested to see that someone agreed with her that it is possible to be too poor to give.

“I once thought so as you do right now, but have learned from experience that no better investment can be made, even from the depths of poverty, than lending to the Lord.”
Now Sister Bell had the attention of all the ladies in the room, as they were all aware of the situation that Sister Sayers was in right now. She continued by saying, “Perhaps, when our work is finished I will relate to you my experiences on the subject. It may be the means of showing you that God will always reward the cheerful giver.”

The ladies eagerly finished their work in order to listen to what Sister Bell had to say. None of them knew of her past life.
They had always thought of her as wealthy, however, she had always been extremely generous when calls were made to donate. When they were finished their work they sat around quietly listening.

“During the first twenty-eight years of my life, 1 was surrounded by wealth; and not until I had been married nine years did I know what it was like not to have enough money. We were very poor and had difficulty in supplying our daily needs for the family. We had to work very hard. We were barely managing to feed our children a scanty supply of food, when we met with some unfortunate circumstances that came with fearful suddenness, and before I had recovered from the blow, I found myself the wife of an extremely poor man, with five children dependent on our hard labour for their food and clothing.

“From that hour I lost all thought of anything but the care of my family. All my energies were spent in that direction – I had time for little else. Late hours and hard work were my portion, and to my unskilled hands it seemed at first a bitter lot. My husband also worked very hard to earn a living, and barely succeeded. We changed our place of residence several times, hoping to do better, but without improvement.

“Everything seemed against us. Our well-stocked wardrobe had become almost empty and I stopped going to church any more as I was ashamed that my children and I did not have any decent clothing to wear. While in this low condition, T decided to go to church one evening. I felt a need to go and hear the words of the Lord and since 1 was too ashamed to go in the daylight, I went when it was dark hoping nobody would notice my old worn-out dress. T took a seat near the door so I could leave as soon as the service was over.

“After the service an earnest appeal was made to send a few boxes for a donation to some poor foreign missionaries. The appeal of the pastor brought tears to my eyes, and painfully reminded me of my past days of prosperity, when I could give of my abundance to all who called upon me. It never entered my mind that the appeal for help in any way concerned me, with my poor children banished (only by my shame) from church because of our poverty, while I would only dare to venture to church under the friendly protection of darkness.

“I left church in deep thought. I was thinking of my situation and I was praying in my heart that those others who had been at the service would have their hearts touched to donate to this worthy cause. I tried to sleep that night, but my thoughts troubled me. The words of this Bible text kept repeating in my mind, ‘Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.’ The eloquent entreaty of the speaker that evening was addressed to all, however poor, to give a mite to the Lord, and receive the promised blessing, but it seemed directly addressed to me. I rose early the next morning, and decided to act on the promise of the Lord in order to bring peace to my troubled mind. I looked over all my worldly goods in search of something worth giving, but in vain; the promised blessing seemed beyond my reach.

“Hearing that the ladies of the church were filling a box for the missionary’s family that day, I decided to make one more effort to look around the house for something that I could spare. All was poor and threadbare. What should I do? At last I thought of my towels. I had six, they were brown and a little worn., but still looked in fairly good condition. This did not always seem like enough towels for our family of seven; yet I decided to make the sacrifice. I took one from the closet, and putting it in a bag, hastened to the church where they were filling the box. 1 quietly slipped it in when no one was looking and returned home with a light heart, feeling that my Saviour’s eye had seen my sacrifice, and would bless my effort.

“From that very day success attended all my husband’s efforts in business. In a few months our means increased so that we were able to buy some nice clothing to attend church and send our children to their Sabbath School class. Before ten years had gone by, our former prosperity had returned fourfold. ‘Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over,’ had been given to us.

“It may seem a coincidence to you, my dear friends, that this happened at that specific time, but we date all our success in life to God’s blessing, following that humble gift out of deep poverty. He may not always think best to reward so signally those who give to Him, but He is never unmindful of the humblest gift or giver. So now you see what I mean when I say that no one is too poor to give. I am a firm believer in God’s promise that He will repay with interest, even in this life, all we lend to Him.”

This story made the other ladies think deeply, as they watched Mrs. Bell leaving for home, stepping into her carriage. Her consistent donations had proved to all that in her prosperity she remembered the promises of God and retained her Christian spirit which, in her days of poverty, had led her to give that brown towel.
“Well,” exclaimed Sister Sayers, “if we all had such a self-denying spirit, we would be able to fill another box immediately. I will never again think that I am too poor to give.”

Perhaps the Lord will not make us wealthy if we give sacrificially, however there is the promised blessing that all our needs will be supplied.

“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread,” Ps. 27:25.

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7.