Fired Up

Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish. (Jean de La Fontaine) Imagine all the impossibilities you envision before you today and then begin to see them vanishing right before your eyes. That huge pile of laundry that awaits your attention - poof, gone. The gigantic undertaking of cleaning out all the closets and drawers where everything just seems to get jumbled - poof, done. The deadline looming for this tough project at work - poof, finished. Impossibilities - we all seem to have them and we all seem to view them just a bit differently, don't we? How we 'view' our impossibilities actually is a result of the condition of our soul - where it is we have placed our trust to overcome those staggering hurdles in front of us.

For no word from God will ever fail. (Luke 1:37)

Imagine being barren - unable to bear a child in a culture where children were the crown upon a father's head and the delight of every mother. Imagine the turmoil deep within the emotions of seeing your friends and relatives multiply their families year after year, all while you remained childless. Imagine the 'secret talk' among those same friends and family as they looked upon you, believing somehow God must have 'judged' you as unworthy of a child - knowing there was some 'flaw' in your character (better known as sin), so he placed a judgment upon you of 'barrenness'. It wasn't uncommon back in the day to believe this way. What an impossibility it may have seemed to Elizabeth to ever be a mother.

Now imagine being Mary and hearing the words, "You are with child - in fact, you are in your sixth month - and your relative, Elizabeth, is also with child." How do you think that revelation would have hit Mary - knowing the barrenness of Elizabeth's womb had been the talk of the 'secret whisperers' for years? How do you think that would have 'hit' Elizabeth to find she was with child? My mind might have gone to how I noticed my dresses weren't fitting quite as well, how the belt that drew in the waist needed to be knotted just a bit looser than normal. I attribute it to the extra calories I seem to be packing away, hungry all the time and craving things that I normally didn't desire. Then it all makes sense - or does it? 

Mary was a virgin - Elizabeth was a married woman. It made sense that Elizabeth could be with child - miracles did happen, you know. To be with child as a betrothed woman, never having 'known' a man, now that didn't make sense! In her sixth month, a 'pledged woman', not yet married, but 'promised' to a good man in the community and she was pregnant - now that's a hurdle! If you can just put yourself in the moment of hearing that news, might you imagine your heart hitting rock bottom, fear entering in with waves and waves of overwhelming unbelief? I would have - not really sure what to make of all of it, but quickly going to the place in my mind where I would imagine the 'secret-whisperers' having new fodder for their gossip!

God amazes me as he allows some impossibilities to be set out in front of all of us - not because he wants to shame us or cause us great angst - but because he wants to show us how great his power is on our behalf. With God all things are possible. With God - not on our own. All things - not just some of them, but all of them. Are - not will be or might be. Possible - it can exist, it can happen, it is going to be done. With him, all things are possible. We face impossibilities each and every day - not because God wants us to be anxious or fearful, but because he wants us to learn to trust him, even when the impossibilities seem insurmountable. Not every impossibility is from him, but trust me on this one, every impossibility is nothing compared to his method of dealing with it! When the right thing 'fires' our soul, the impossibilities vanish. Just sayin!