Oseola McCarty was an African-American woman who earned a living by washing and ironing other people’s clothes. She never married and had to leave school early to help support her family. She never owned a car and worked every day until arthritis forced her to retire at the age of eighty six. All her life she scrimped and saved, but in her will she left one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to set up a scholarship to enable poor families to send their kids to university. Well, after hearing the story, billionaire Ted Turner was so moved he decided to add a billion dollars to her gift.
Oseola McCarty was like the poor widow in the gospel whose tiny offering Jesus said was priceless. To God, it’s not the size of the gift that counts, but what it means to the person who gives it and what it does to those who see it.