“If” came off Bread’s 1971 album Manna, hit No. 4, and has been playing at wedding receptions ever since. A band called Bread putting out an album called Manna means somebody at Elektra either knew their Exodus or got lucky. David Gates opens by asking why, if a picture paints a thousand words, he can’t paint the one he loves. It’s a love song admitting that words fall short. Telly Savalas later recorded it as a spoken-word piece and took it to No. 1 in Britain, so apparently words are enough if you’re Kojak. The rest of us stammer.
Through a Christian lens, Gates ran out of words for one person. God didn’t. When He wanted to show us what love looks like, He didn’t send a picture or a description. He sent His Son.
“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” John 1:18
— JC
