The partiality of possibility.

“Do you think I will ever get better?” I asked Dr Burns. “Do you believe it’s possible?”

“I really do.” he replied, after sitting quietly for a moment on the little black stool across from me.

“At least he thought before he answered.” I said quietly to myself.

Hope was in short supply in my life at that time. Heck… it’s still in short supply.

So when it engulfed me like a thick warm fog on a spring morning (the kind that saturates your clothes and causes a drip off your eyelashes even though you never felt any actual water hit your skin), I remember nearly puddling into tears out of relief.

He believed it was possible when I no longer could.

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” (Mark 9:23)

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)

The Bible says healing is possible. And boy, I’d be super wealthy if I had even a few pennies for each time those verses were quoted or written to me, and even better off for the times I recited the verses to myself! If the Bible says something is possible, then enough said and done, right?!

No, and no.

Well, not quite.

As humans we love possibility. Possibility provides hope. And hope is perhaps the strongest motivator of mankind apart from love. But even love itself is often revealed by providing hope to others- through comfort that things will get better, through reassurance during a hard time, through reminders of the hope we can have in eternity, through help to believe in the unknown, and through the encouragement of faith- which is, by definition, the assurance of things hoped for. (Hebrew’s 11:1)

We are equally obsessed with the impossible… though only because we want to prove the impossible possible. Most of the great movies of all time are about overcoming adversities or accomplishing feats that seem impossible:

Mission Impossible, Top Gun and this year’s top box office hit- Maverick, Indiana Jones movies, 007, Rocky, the Shawshank Redemption, Oceans Eleven, Field of Dreams… (add your favorite here- it most like fits the theme somehow too!)

But the feature films have another thing in common:

The writers and producers ensure the happy ending. The script is written in such a way as to lure the viewer through various struggles towards a victory.

Some of you might see where I am taking this- paralleling the films and their directors with our lives and God. You are correct. That is where I hoped your thoughts would travel to.

But, in addition to the obvious fact that most of us won’t be flying fighter planes or rescuing treasure, and nor will our adventures likely resemble in any way the thrilling ones we watch year after year during holidays, apart from the director/actor parallel, the similarities are actually very few.

As a child, the future seemed endless with possibilities- I could grow up to be anything! I could be an astronaut, a marine biologist, an engineer, an orthodontist (yes, I was a strange kid), a lawyer, a famous chef, a teacher… I could travel the world! Learn to ski jump! Snorkel the Barrier Reef! Be an actress! Play in a symphony!

These ideas excited me. Many became dreams that fueled my passion for learning, and kept me enthusiastic about growing up. Yet there was also a naïveté that, on the one hand protected me and gave me happiness, but on the other hand would lead to let downs throughout life as I grew up (it happens…) and life got hard. [Things were just easier when summers were filled with laying in the grass under a sycamore tree, and the only understanding of bills was that they were the “not-good” stuff that came on a disappointing mail day without magazines or postcards to carry in after getting off the bus.]

The peace (and sometimes sheer excitement and anticipation) that comes from believing in a possibility is typically centered on the outcome that could occur- the one we hope for. But this simplistic view and understanding of possibility routinely leaves us in cycles of hope, disappointment, discouragement, and despair… cycles that frustratingly, abundantly, and without explanation showcase both the Have’s and the Have Not’s as we compare ourselves and our situations to others around us. These cycles can last for decades if not broken, holding us back from the lives and freedom that are meant to be ours.

Hope, longing, desire, expectation—these are all feelings that stem from possibility. All embody our human tendency to visualize the good things we want in life. But just because we desire something doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen.

This seeming partiality of possibility is because:

Possibilities becoming realities in real life are not guarantees like they are in the movies.

Possibility = actual physical feasibility or miracle + hope in what hasn’t been proven yet (which = faith)

Remember though: Faith without works is dead. (James 2:14-26) For possibility to become reality, effort must be added continually (by you and by God’s enabling), until His reality and chosen outcome is revealed.

I love Hope. Above all other feelings, hope is by far my favorite, and, as I wrote earlier, the most powerful motivator of mankind. Perhaps this is why disappointment (the recognition that something hoped for is no longer possible) is akin to, and in most circumstances actually followed by, grief… it’s that strong. Both are known to be the most difficult feelings to overcome in life, involving deep internal distress and, in extreme cases, anguish and despair.

Disappointment is the painful experience of being let down when your expectations don’t play out the way you hoped. It’s when reality doesn’t match your picture of what could have been. This gap between the pictures in our heads and the reality in front of us is what creates the disappointment.

Feeling this let down doesn’t mean the possibility is not still there.

Possibility is always there.

But it does mean that, if it’s to become a reality, we must choose to learn from our letdowns. Sometimes this means getting better at understanding our expectations- of both what is feasible and what our role will need to be. Sometimes acceptance of varying degrees is warranted (but be careful that acceptance does not fill in for resignation). And, most often, we learn we need to take action in some way. Otherwise, the cycle of possibility, hope, disappointment, discouragement, and despair will continue unbroken.

All this to say- we must be extremely careful that we do not rest our hope and our future on possibility alone, but instead use it as a jumping off point… the fuel and belief we need to muster up some grit and courage to actually do the work.

The door will always be open. But you must walk through it to get to the other side.