The One Impossible Thing...

The happy heart gives away the best. To know how to receive is also a most important gift, which cultivates generosity in others and keeps strong the cycle of life.

Dhyani Ywahoo
Voices of Our Ancestors

I have been away from the intenet for nearly two weeks! A long hiatus. It looks as though there have been many visits here in my absence. I hope you haven't given up on me!
The quote about the happy heart came to my box today, from Gratefulness.org and I wanted to share it with you. I have been on both the giving and receiving end of the cycle. I guess I've always been a bit of a Franciscan by nature, believing that "things" are never permanent, and not ultimately of the most importance. Giving away a car, picking up a hitchiker, giving up a bag of cookies (on the healthy side of things) to a guy whose sign said he hadn't eaten in two days, and whose radiant face and happy exclamation as I tossed him the bag made me believe it was true; giving a tithe, even when practicality says it isn't prudent to do so; taking time to listen, inviting a stranger to tea, or giving away some furniture to a young woman with a baby who had very little...we give in many ways during any given day. Do we do so with a happy heart? Or begrudgingly?
Recently, things have been a bit rough going for me. I can remember a time when I moved into a new apartment and a friend came by with her truck to take me garage saling on a Saturday morning. All I had to spend that morning was $50, and somehow, we found everything I needed for my apartment within a couple of hours. Nice things too. People just wanting to lighten their load of stuff they really didn't need.
That was many years ago. This move has been different. I have friends who have literally kept me from landing on the streets! But the easy syncronicities aren't there. I seem to be out of sync! It's easy to keep the faith when things "flow." When life gives to us from it's amazing abundance, and we find generosity at every corner. But what of faith when everything is a struggle? When life seems stingy. When any past good we may have done, has no bearing on what happens to us in the present? Is it karma? I don't buy into that. Someone inspecting my life might say that some of my unwise choices, and there have been those, have taken God's favor away. Nah...I don't buy that either. We feel this need to explain why people suffer, why people are poor, why the sick are sick. That way if we're really good, those things can't touch us. But the truth is, none of us are invulnerable. Suffering comes to our lives. It hurts. We bleed. Our hearts break. Our souls feel weighed down by the difficulties.
I did find a candle holder at a yard sale. It has some beach stones in it, and there was a nice purple amythest. When I picked up the amythest, (is that the right spelling?), there was some wax on one side of it. So I cleared it off, and found a word inscribed on that stone: "Faith." It brought some tears. Especially when later that morning I went to church and the priest preached a sermon about remembering the poor, giving when the poor need something from us. He didn't preach with some apology for Jesus hard words to the young man who had kept all the commandments and asked Jesus what to do. When Jesus said "Give all that you have to the poor and follow me..." that was the one impossible thing for him to do. No apologies from Jesus either. I left church that morning knowing that God is with me, despite my lack of wisdom at times, despite my stubborness and all my mountain of fears.
That Jesus and his hard words...IMPOSSIBLE words! He always asks the one thing that is impossible of us...and we find that when we place our hand in God's hand, the impossible becomes possible. It may bring tears and loss and some suffering, but it always brings a gift. A treasure. The pearl of great price. I have no doubt that God never gave up on that young man who kept all the commandments, but couldn't give up his wealth. I have no doubt that at some point, that young man did that very thing and found heaven in the midst of what seemed as the greatest loss.
So, I'm wondering what impossible thing God is asking of you?
"With God, ALL things are possible!"
So we continue to live our lives with some kind of hope, knowing that when we face the impossible obstacle, God is right there in the obstacle, whispering "have faith dear one. You are not alone."  At least that's what I've been hearing lately.