If

If...

If only ...

If only I ...

If only I had/said/knew/owned/could ...

If only I had/said/knew/owned/could ____________ then I would be happy/content/complete.

If.

Whilst "Hope" is potentially the most powerful word in our language, "If" is the most enticing.

"If" suggests that all is not as it should be.  It suggests that there is something missing, something lacking, something incomplete.  And what's more, it suggests that this dissatisfaction could be resolved easily with something or someone. 

Rob Bell says,

"'If' means we have become attached to the idea that we are missing something and that we can be satisfied by whatever it is we have in our sights.  There's a hole, a space, a gap, and we're on the search."

"If" challenges us and questions us and unsettles us.  It makes us feel that there is something more that we ought to have, something that we need, something that is just out of our reach.  And without it, we couldn't possibly hope to be happy.

And we search in all sorts of places and in all sorts of ways, desperate to find something to fill the spaces and gaps that "If" has conjured up.

"If" promises more than it can deliver.

"If" appears to be powerful, leading us to a better and more fulfilling life, but really it is devoid of any kind of power. It is a mirage, which at once draws us to itself with its promise of satisfaction and disappoints us with the realisation it is false.

"If" lives in the conditional, changeable, not-yet-realised future.  It seems tantalisingly close, almost tangible.  And yet it doesn't really exist.  The challenge, then, is not to engage with the question "What if?" and to try to find an answer.  Instead, it is to learn to accept and embody the reality, the present, the here-and-now.  To feel complete and at peace with where we are, with who we are and with what we have.  To be grateful instead of greedy, satisfied instead of searching.

The Lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need."

[Psalm 23:1, NLT, emphasis mine]

If only we could be satisfied with what we already have ...