Join us for our next Replenish Zoom gathering on Tuesday, March 7th at 8pm CST. Our topic for the evening will be “Perseverance.”
We will reflect together on the words of the poem “If—,” by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling may have had a young man in mind when he wrote them, but we think a homeschooling mom might recognize some of her challenges in this poem too.
If you have time, we have three tasks for you in preparation for this meeting:
- Read through the poem and pick out a line that particularly resonates with you in your life right now.
- Consider the sources of support you have in homeschooling, homemaking, and being a Christian wife. Are there voices in and around you telling you that you are doing too much or too little? Are they telling you the truth or pushing you toward a ditch? How can you tell the difference?
- Think about a scripture verse that encourages you to keep persevering and write it down to share with the group. What does it look like to persevere in light of the Gospel?
(If you don’t get to these tasks, please still attend!)
Please RSVP by Sunday, March 5th to attend.
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!
Blest the House 