|
SPIRIT OF LIFE MINISTRIES
HELEN AND RUSSELL SANDERS
5-12-2023
REACTIONS
We have heard the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” This is true but also our reactions to someone else’s actions indicate our maturity.
I learned a poem over 50 years ago that could sum up maturity. It was written by Rudyard Kipling. There is no mention of God in this poem, but the advice given is extraordinary. It is entitled “If.”
IF
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son![1]
Sometimes the world is much wiser than those that are called Christians. There is altogether too much pride in the body of Christ. I truly believe that if each of us read this poem and followed its advice we would all be true disciples of Christ. Think about it.
[1] Kipling, Rudyard (1910). rewards and Fairies (First ed.). London: Macmillan.
| 
