Triumph and disaster

On the wall in my office I have a poem by Rudyard Kipling framed for me to see each day. The poem is called "If". I won't quote the whole poem in this blog but one line has both preplexed me and inspired me over the last few years. "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.

My mom gave me a copy of this poem when I graduated from High school many years ago. I remember thinking that line did not make any sense to me. Why would I consider triumph an imposter? Over the last few years I have started to understand the wisdom of that statement. Even this week I have looked up at that poem to help me remember that line.

God has been so faithful to me and as I mentioned several weeks ago, he has continued to work in spite of my whinning. I recently brought in a pretty decent account that is going to bring in a lot of money to my office and of course increase my commission checks. I am also at the final step of bringing in a very big customer soon if all goes well. Most of the financial issues I had will be solved with these 2 accounts and I am just getting started bringing in business to this office.

So that brings me back to that line in the poem. Now that I have been through "diaster" and I am starting to taste some "triumph" again...how do I handle it? Can I stay in Constant Surrender or do I think that I have things under control now so I can go back to the way I have been doing things for so long? Can I say that triumph is an imposter now and continue to "...fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run"? (another line in the poem). Can I keep my arms raised and my body exposed for God to continue working on my life?

God is so faithful and so patient with me. I am thankful for a moment when I can sit back and be happy with my current situation again but I want to be mindful of the lessons I have learned and I want to stay on this path of Constant Surrender. I am hoping that those of you that are reading this can pray for me to do just that.