In the corner with his hands tied behind his back.
This is a statement my mother made since I was a little girl, and I never fully understood it then as I do now. I guess as a child you never worry about what could have or should have happened in life, you just go about living it. As you live you gain experience of what has worked and what has not worked so well in your life. Instead of thinking on those episodes of our life as learning times, many of us look back on them with regret and say to ourselves, ‘if only,’ and it becomes the mantra of our lives.
If only I had known what the stock market would do, or if only I would have bought that piece of property I would be rich now. If only I knew my marriage wouldn’t have worked, I could have saved all that money we spent on the wedding. Life is a series of ‘ifs,’ it is even most of the word life, stuck right smack dab in the middle is if. That should be a sign that there would be times that our lives wouldn’t go exactly smoothly.
Everyone’s life is full of ifs! If they had been listening to the radio at Pearl Harbor, or if they would have heeded the warning about the ice bergs. If the Jews didn’t believe the Germans were taking them to relocation centers, six million would not have lost their lives. If, IF IF!!! They say hind site is 20/20, the problem with that type of vision is you must learn from it, in order for it to be perfect.
There is another form of if, and that is the one that keeps you from acting on an idea or intention. ‘If’ I wasn’t so shy I would sing, or ‘if’ I was more popular I would run for student council etc.. It isn’t the hind sight ‘if’ it is the hold you back ‘if’. It stands in the corner with its hands tied behind its back. Stopping any progress to be made like, if I had the money, I would? Don’t let the little stiff keep you from making decisions, or trying to attain your dreams.
Knowing me, you were wondering when I would interject a song. Well I don’t ever want to disappoint, so here one is:
If Tomorrow Never Comes
Ronan Keating
Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch her sleeping
She’s lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart
If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she’s my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face this world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes
‘Cause I’ve lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there’s no second chance to tell her how I feel
So tell that someone that you love
Just what you’re thinking of
If tomorrow never comes
What are you going to let if keep you from doing? Telling someone you love them? Having a family, or forgiving a loved one? The worst thing you could do is letting if keep you from accepting Christ as you Saviour! “If, I had one more day.” Is that what you will say when you are denied heaven, and the alternative is your fate?
As parents we need to keep our children out of the if trap. “Daddy if you buy me a puppy I will keep my room clean.” And we need to keep ourselves out of that trap also. Help your child resolve their problems and issues, not make excuses for them. Jesus used the word if, as a challenge, not an excuse. ‘If’ you love me, He made it very simple. Either you do or you don’t.
We as authors tell ourselves, ‘if’ I could just sell x-amount of copies, I will be a great author! Being a great author does not hinge on sales, but plots, climaxes, and resolutions. Sometimes we are tempted to fall into the “if” land, but don’t, it is a bottomless pit.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Mark 8:36
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John 13:35
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:15
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Romans 8:31
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
II Corinthians 5:17