The Possible Dream
August 1, 2008
By Christina Quick
“What are you pondering
today?” I asked my daughter as she sat on my bed watching me get ready for work
one morning.
It’s one of my favorite
questions for her. I never know what answer I’m going to get. This child is
always wondering about something or dreaming up a project of some kind.
“How are seedless
grapes grown?” she asked on one recent day. “I mean, if there are no seeds,
where do they come from?”
A few months ago my
husband gave her a journal in which to record her thoughts and ideas. She
quickly filled it up with observations, charts and diagrams of inventions she
envisions, and questions about a variety of topics.
This morning was no
exception. Turns out, she’d been thinking about the price of gas. She’s
concerned about our country’s dependence on foreign oil. She worries that
drilling and transporting oil in Alaska will hurt sea animals. And she’s
mulling the idea of a gasless car that would use magnetic locomotion. She has
even conducted some experiments with magnets to see how it might work. Not bad
for a 9-year-old.
“Maybe,” she said, “a
lot of the things people think are impossible really are possible. It could be
that no one has thought about those things long enough or in the right way.”
As I pictured
individuals like Wilbur and Orville Wright, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas
Edison, I had to agree.
My daughter may be on
to something. Granted, we weren’t all destined to become famous inventors, but
I wonder what would happen if we fully applied the gifts God has given us,
while trusting Him completely with the results. What if we did all that with
pure motives, seeking to serve others and honor God, rather than promoting
ourselves? What if we truly had faith in God’s promises, even faith the size of
a mustard seed instead of a seedless grape seed? What would be possible then?
If anyone asks, that’s
what I’m pondering today.
“I tell you the truth, if you
have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from
here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew
17:20, NIV).
— Christina Quick is staff
writer for Today’s Pentecostal Evangel and blogs at Refrigerator Art
(cquick.agblogger.org).
