Amy Carmichael’s book If may be little in size, but it packs a powerful punch. Miss Carmichael used “if…then” statements to reiterate the overwhelming beauty, power, and grace found in the love that Christ demonstrated at Calvary. The reminders contained in its pages cannot be skimmed over lightly or read in their entirety in one brief sitting. They must be absorbed, pondered, grasped, and implemented one by one.

Several years ago I began writing down my own “If” musings, and while I have occasionally shared a few of those entries as Facebook posts or in letters to friends, they have been so personal at times that I have protected them as if they were a private prayer. Until recently, the entries were sometimes written on note cards and then inserted into the otherwise bound pages of a daily journal; other times, they were written on the pages of my daily planner, on Post-it notes, or on the backs of sermon notes.

With the arrival of 2016 a few weeks ago, I determined to use my smartphone for the purposes for which it was created and not for those which are often attached to it: it is not my best friend, the only means by which I can connect to or interact with others, my security, or the source of my identity. I even went back to wearing a watch so that I would no longer have to keep looking at my smartphone for the time, because I found that I was often becoming distracted by the notifications or options it offered me with each glance.

For some of those areas I eliminated through this decision, I chose instead to pick up…get ready for it…a fountain pen and a journal with pages begging to be the recipient of its ink. (If you haven’t tried one, start with an inexpensive disposable fountain pen like the one you’ll find here.) There’s something about being reunited with your fountain pen that prompts you to write from the depths of your heart. And for me, when the contents of my heart met the flow of the ink, I felt the need to begin an official If journal (as opposed to randomly jotting my “if…then” statements on whatever form of paper was near at the moment).

Some of these, I will share on this website; some I will share on the Petals from the Basket Facebook page; some will remain private prayers. Today’s will simply serve as an introduction for those who are unfamiliar with Amy Carmichael’s book, the original example and inspiration for these thoughts of my own:

If, when my path crosses that of one whose journey does not mimic my own and whose transgressions may seem more public than those I have privately committed, I do not offer the grace I have received, the understanding with which I have been blessed, or the forgiveness that was on me so freely bestowed, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

~BLS, from my personal If journal, inspired by Amy Carmichael