I think I have made every mistake... and been pulled about by every hook... but the worst of all the hooks by which I have been hooked... is the religious hook... oh my... the places that has pulled me to with each new jerk... the pull to do great things for God... to accomplish much for Him... to be important... to be successfull... all for God.... oh what a hook that is...

One of my close friends reminded me this morning of a poem by Rudyard Kipling entitled:

"IF"...

"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;"

"Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,"

our dreams become our vision for what God wants us to do... they take us away from our relationship with Him and become our Master instead... every thing I think becomes what I am here to do... every thought becomes my aim... my goal... and takes me further from Him..

until... finally...  He must take those dreams away... in order to get me back... to show me that He never asked  me to do anything for Him... that all He ever wanted was a relationship with me...

It was never about the triumph... the success... just as it is not about the disaster... the failure... it is about my knowing Him...

then little by little... He breaks that religious hook... or any other hook  in me...