What If I Give Everything?

At some time or another, everyone looks back into their past and asks themselves a "What if..." question.  We don't like making mistakes and being in the wrong. Some mistakes are very blatant while others aren't so obvious.  When they happen, we love to replay the past in our mind and pinpoint just what we could have done differently.  Its quite easy to look back on what we should have done in the past while holding our present information.

I've had too many of these "What if" scenarios in my life yet I added another to my life while out knocking doors. 
We stopped doing so after finishing the first half of the street and made our way to a set appointment.  Our hopes were high since one family had invited us back and we'd be back later to finish the other half.  We returned six days later and resumed our work.

As we made our way down the street I saw two women outside of a home embracing one another and having a tender moment.  As we neared closer, the two made their way to their separate vehicles.  While doing so, I asked one how her day was going.  She replied, "Not well" and said there was nothing we could do to help. As we walked passed the home, I decided against knocking the door and continued on down the street, all the while wondering what all the sadness was about.

I later learned that during the morning of the previous Saturday, the owner of that house, a middle-aged woman, had taken her life.  Divorced yet with grown children, the neighbors saw her as a good and bright person.  I made the connection now with those two women, but my mind flashed back to the week prior - what if we had knocked on her door?  What would have happened?  Would she have been home?  If so, would she have opened the door?  Would she have accepted help?

 

The Apostle Paul in the New Testament I'm sure had a lot regrets too.  After being the cause of much pain and suffering to the early Christian saints and holding the coats of the men who killed the Apostle Stephen, one could suppose he might have asked a lot of "What if" questions. 

While Paul and I both realize that you can't go back and change the past, Paul offers this solution:

"This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus". (Phil 3:13)

In short, learn your lesson, do better next time, and ask your "What if" question, not while searching the past, but when pondering the future.  The song "The Motions" comes to mind by Matthew West, who's chorus reads:

I don’t want to go through the motions

I don’t want to go one more day

Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don’t want to spend my whole life asking

What if I had given everything?

Instead of going through the motions

Instead of asking "What if I had given everything?", start asking "What if I give everything?".  Your list of possibilities just made a complete 180 and you'll find your situation a whole lot happier and much more positive.