Somethings are so powerful you just have to read them again and again, and this particular poem is one of this things. I know I have shared this poem in past years, but today I read it again and it really hit me how much this poem describes the person we should all hope to be.
So many things in life may work against us at different times, whether it is bad people, or bad circumstances, or bad feelings…and no matter what comes against us we have to learn to still stand strong and stand with integrity. We can’t ever let bad things make us become bad. No doubt it can take serious self-control not to lash back or seek revenge or have bad feelings toward those who have wronged you, but we have to remind ourselves that God expects us to control our own integrity and our own actions…no matter what anyone else may have done. And this poem is just a great reminder of all we should hope to be…
IF
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!
-Rudyard Kipling
Great reminder! Have a fantastic day everyone!
~Amy
1 Comment
Thanks so much for this, Amy. God’s timing is just so perfect. I really needed this today.