If by Rudyard Kipling Revised by Rusty Thomas
If you can keep your mind on Christ when all about you
Are losing theirs and accusing you,
If you can trust God when all men doubt you,
But make prayers for those who do;
If you can wait on the Lord and not grow faint,
Or being lied about, slandered, and falsely accused,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
But bless those who curse you:
If you can dream—and submit those dreams to your Master;
If you can think—and bring those thoughts captive;
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 the “one thing” your goal
And risk it all to see it come to pass,
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 the Lord and advance His Kingdom,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to your soul: ‘Press on!’
If you can preach to crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can deter 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 Kingdom and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
