The impossible is possible
By Editor
Fri 27 Dec. 2013, 14:00 CAT

Almost everything we enjoy today was impossible yesterday. So what transforms an impossibility into a possibility, a possibility into a probability, and a probability into a fact?

Deep inside you lives an impossible thought, a dream longing to come true. There is a mission residing in you, put there by your heavenly Father. You see, he specialises in the impossible. That's where He is at His best. He is able to do more than we can ask or think.

Life can be a perpetual barrage of "things" coming at us, beside us and past us. Fear, faith, friends, envy, the past, greed, giving, serving, mistakes, anger, peace, indecision, and love ask for our time and demand our attention. What they can leave is an impression that everything is impossible, or at least very difficult.

And during this Christmas period, we should reflect and realise that the good news is that God wants us to do more than we can imagine. He longs to take our impossibilities and turn them into possibilities. When a mistake makes a situation impossible, God can turn it around. When worry wants to paralyse us, God wants to bring us freedom. When confusion seems to be the only answer, God wants to shed light on His path for us.

Perhaps there is no greater truth than that "with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible" (Matthew 19:29).
When confronted with a new opportunity or tough situation, it may not be unusual for some to ask themselves, 'Do I have a pure heart and a right spirit?' The prayer of Psalm 139:23-24 is:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

The weapon of the brave resides in his or her heart. Horace Rutledge said, "When you look at the world in a narrow way, how mean it is! When you look at it selfishly, how selfish it is! But when you look at it in a broad, generous, friendly spirit, how wonderful you find it!"

The Bible counsels us to prove all things, holding fast to those that are good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Margaret Mitchell spoke this truth: "There ain't nothing from the outside that can lick any of us." James Alien added, "You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as you dominant aspiration."

Remember this: when you don't have strength within, you won't have respect without. If a person's aim in this world is right, he or she will misfire in the next. Too many children are afraid of the dark, while too many adults are afraid of the light. William Hazlitt remarked, "If mankind would wish for what is right, they might have had it long ago."

Roger Babson added, "If things are not going well with you, begin your effort by correcting the situation by carefully examining the service you are rendering and especially the spirit in which you are rendering it."

To know what is right and not do it - this is as bad as doing wrong. Invite trouble and it will show up early. Save yourself a lot of problems by not borrowing any. Here is more insight about trouble: you don't have to get rid of old agonies to make room for new ones. Nothing costs more than doing the wrong thing.

The man who borrows trouble is always in debt. The best way to escape evil is to pursue good. The person who persists in courting trouble will soon be married to it. Go straight - every crooked turn delays your arrival at success. Joel Budd said, "A hungry heart is like a parachute. When you pull on it, it opens up and saves you." Keep your head and heart going in the right direction, and you won't have to worry about your feet.

More harm has been done by weak people than by wicked people. Most of the problems of this world have been caused by the weakness of good rather than by the strength of evil.

The true measure of a person is in his or her height of ideals, the breadth of his or her sympathy, the depth of his or her convictions, and the length of his or her patience. Consider what the book of James says: "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin." And Thomas Carlyle said, "Of all the paths a man could strike onto, there is, at any given moment, a best path…a thing which, here and now, if it were of all things wisest for him to do…to find this path and walk in it."

The time is always right to do the right thing. And Richard Huseman says, "Be driven by excellence. To be driven by excellence so at the end of each day, each month, each year, and in indeed at the end of life itself, we must ask one important question: have we demanded enough of ourselves, and by our example, inspired those around us to put forth their best effort and achieve their greatest potential?"
The right train of thought will take you to a better destination in life. Eddie Rickenbacker encourages us to "think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience". If you want greatness, forget greatness and earnestly pursue God's will. Then you can find both. John Wooden admonished, "success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of being."

Harold Taylor said, "The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can become." Elevate your personal standards of quality. To whatever thought was good enough for now, add ten per cent. Stand for what is right, then you win, even if you "lose".

The greatest mistake you can make in life is not to be true to the best you know. Follow Ralph Sockman's advice: "Give the best that you have to the highest you know - and do it now."