If Only

If only I had more money, I would give more to "Made in the Streets", the Wayne Reed Center or the Jellico Mission or the water well project....

During the summer (which seemed to stretch endlessly at first) a friend and I would sit on the front porch and draw elaborate houses for which we yearned. At that time, my house did not have indoor plumbing--it was wreck of a house my folk had moved in from the country. My dad was a carpenter and had the skills to remake it. We dreamed "if only"....

At other times when I have seen beautiful old plantation homes full of antiques, I have wished to have been born into a family with such an inheritance and have enjoyed the "what ifs" of such a circumstance.

But the truth is, we were an ordinary family of the '50's struggling to get by in an old house with cheap furnishings and home-made clothes. However, we always had a bed, clothes and food to eat, and the opportunity for an education--unlike the street children of Kenya.

As I see the photos of the homeless Kenyan kids, I wish I could do more--If only I had been born to wealth...However, as I read the story of the widow's mite in Luke 21:1-4, I give with joy what I can give and dispense with the "if onlys".