The word "If" counjours up two pieces of writing. The first is the famous poem by Rudyard Kipling "If you can dio this that and the other without it bothering you then you'll be a man my son" or words to that effect. The other is a collection of sayings by Amy Carmichael gathered into a small book saying things like "If the ultimate, the highest cannot be asked of me, if my fellows hesitate and ask another, then I know nothing of calvary love" again or words to that effect. There is a similarity between the two. I used to have the little Amy Carmichael book and it was one of my prized possessions, I used to regularly beat myself up psychologically after reading it.
These days I treat such writings with a great deal of suspicion. They seem now to be a bit self righteous; an unreachable bar. I know Amy Carmichael spent a lot of time bedridden in the days before T.V. I guess you have got to occupy youself somehow. She is a person I greatly admire, don't get me wrong, but her writings didn't do me much good as an intense young christian wanting to be holy. As a not particularly macho bloke Rudyard Kipling's "If" just left me feeling inadequate.
What I believe defines a person is not the gritty determination to overcome all obstacles but the failures, the skin of the teeth escapes. The lucky goal that goes in off your backside. None of us are good enough that's why we need Jesus.
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