It is very easy to engage in “if only” thinking: If only I had been born into a wealthier family, if only I had the advantage of a better education, if only I knew more influential people who could advance my career, and so on. “If only” thinking suggests that I am a spectator of my life, not an active participant in it.
Someone who constantly engages in “if only” thinking will never truly be at peace. She or he imagines that the key to happiness lies in someone else’s hands, someone who is withholding that key. Jesus’s words will often seem an obstacle because the “if only” thinkers tend to forget that Jesus suffered and died on a cross. If Jesus had followed their example, his time on the cross would have been filled with rumination over his bad luck. The Gospels, especially the Gospel of John, show Jesus as very deliberate in his choices. He rules—even from the cross.
—from the book Peace and Good: Through the Year with Francis of Assisi
by Pat McCloskey, OFM
