If

Amy Carmichael was a Irish lady who spent 55 years of her life ministering to the children & women of India at the Dohnavur Fellowship which she founded in 1901. I love to read about her life and read her books & poetry.

One of my favorite pieces is a collection of brief thoughts & poems titled "If." They challenge my heart afresh, each time I read them. I'm sharing a few that really spoke to my heart this evening, in this season of my life. There are so many areas of my life where I 'know nothing of Calvary love'! Do you find yourself in any of these?

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another;

if I can in any way slight another in conversation,

or even in thought,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

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If I take offence easily;

if I am content to continue in cold unfriendliness,

though friendship be possible,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve,

talk of their weak points in contrast

perhaps with what I think of as my strong points;

if I adopt a superior attitude,

forgetting "Who made thee to differ?

and what hast thou that thou hast not received?"

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If a sudden jar can cause me

to speak an impatient, unloving word,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill

even one drop of bitter water,

however suddenly jolted.

If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me;

if my fellows hesitate to ask it

and turn to someone else,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

When an answer I did not expect

comes to a prayer which I believed I truly meant,

I shrink back from it;

if the burden my Lord asks me to bear

be not the burden of my heart's choice, 

and I fret inwardly and do not welcome His will,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can easily discuss

the shortcomings and the sins of any;

if I can speak in a casual way

even of a child's misdoings,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection,

or lest the one concerned should say,

"You do not understand",

or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness;

if I put my own good name

before the other's highest good,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I feel bitter toward those who condemn me,
as it seems to me, unjustly,
forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself
they would condemn me much more,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.
[Amy Carmichael]

Desperate to know ever more of Calvary love,
for His glory!
~Lisha

I'm sharing this post at Growing Home, Titus 2sday, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Raising Homemakers, Hope in Every Season, & I Choose Joy!

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