If I Knew You And You Knew Me

"If I knew you and you knew me
As I know me and you know you,
Perhaps we less would disagree
And paths alike we would ensue.

If I knew you and you knew me,
What’s in your heart and what’s in mine.
Then both of us would likely see
Our thoughts, our aims are much in line.

If I knew you and you knew me,
And why we do the things we do,
We might more tolerating be
While right we do and wrong eschew.

If I knew you and you knew me,
And knowing what each has been through,
Our thoughts would less judgmental be,
And we’d forgive and start anew.

There is so much concealed from sight
That we know not, nor can we see,
But we would not in haste indict
If I knew you and you knew me." —James E. Gibbons, late editor of The Sword & Staff

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets