If I were a Rich man……

Remember that song from “Fiddler on the Roof”? 

Okay so I’m not a man….and definitely not rich….but I often think about it.

Every day I see people and stories that make my heart ache and I think to myself  “If I just had something to give….” 

Why do people do such things to each other?  A family who was homeless last year, living in their own home having their first Christmas when someone breaks in a few days before and steals all the presents for the young children….They are sad, but they are grateful for at least having a home this year…..

A wife and mother, widowed too early just before the holidays….left to pick up the pieces with an old home in need of many repairs and a stack of unpaid hospital and funeral bills.

Children….they are the worst…..Sick with cancer and fighting for their lives…..

or starving….

or living in a homeless shelter or tent…..

Or families too poor to have their children’s cleft lip or pallet repaired…

Veterans who fought for our country living on the streets….begging for change and sleeping in the snow in make shift shelters….

Mothers….standing on the street corners bundled in layers of clothing and braving the cold begging for change to feed their families…..

The other day, I went to the store with the $10 my mother had sent me for my birthday to buy something for dinner…As I was pulling out of the parking lot I saw her….Thin, small, wrapped up in layers of coats, scarves and gloves….shivering to stay warm against the cold winds and glooming skies with a sign that simply read “Homeless mother trying to feed my children….Please help”….All I had left was 50 cents…..but I rolled down my window and called her over……”Thank you! God Bless you!” she said….and I thought about it again…. “If I were a rich man…..”  Now I know 50 cents isn’t a lot, but I wondered…maybe a can of beans or some fruit….wouldn’t be much but I know she was grateful for the donation….

And today I read in our paper of the widow of our beloved Phil….the coach who gave so much to the football teams for over 20 years….Who was a pastor and in the choir of his church….who counseled many….who past out hugs like they were raindrops…..who would sit and talk with you about anything…..who will be greatly missed by hundreds if not thousands of people…..How the church is helping Beth with fixing the leaking roof of her home…and needs help with other repairs….How they have set up a memorial fund in her name at the bank to help her through these hard times….

I don’t have anything to give but my time….I live on so little as it is….But IF I were a rich man…. I would give freely of what I did have to help all these others whenever I could….

Dear Lord,

I pray that someday,

I will be able to return the blessings you have

given me to others less fortunate.

Amen

 

 

Hugs and Love to all!