Believing the Impossible

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
1      The LORD reigns,
           let the nations tremble;
        he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
           let the earth shake.
2      Great is the LORD in Zion;
           he is exalted over all the nations.
3      Let them praise your great and awesome name—
           he is holy.

4      The King is mighty, he loves justice—
           you have established equity;
         in Jacob you have done
           what is just and right.
5      Exalt the LORD our God
           and worship at his footstool;
           he is holy.

6      Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
           Samuel was among those who called on his name;
        they called on the LORD
           and he answered them.
7      He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
           they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

8      LORD our God,
           you answered them;
         you were to Israel a forgiving God,
           though you punished their misdeeds.
9      Exalt the LORD our God
           and worship at his holy mountain,
           for the LORD our God is holy. (Psalm 99, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
In Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, Alice expresses her inability to believe impossible things. The Queen responds in the following fashion: "I dare say you haven’t had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

If you’re anything like me, what you do before breakfast is quite routine. From rising out of bed to pouring the first cup of coffee to showering to getting ready for the day, the pattern is fairly predictable. The Queen in Through the Looking-Glass suggests we add another item to our list of things to do before breakfast: Practice believing the impossible. 

This is such good advice! We need help in seeing that which is unseen, noticing the beautiful, and believing that God is present right now—at this time in our lives, and right here in this particular place. We need practice believing that wonderfully more is going on in the world than what we see in the mirror or read in the newspaper. 

Fortunately, certain habits train the mind to see invisibilities. The Queen advises Alice to "draw a long breath" and "shut [her] eyes" in order to believe impossibilities. In the same way, devotion to prayer and meditation on Scripture can open our eyes to God’s presence in the life we already know. 

Let me suggest that having read the psalm for today, you now take a few moments to pray the psalm. Stretch out your soul in the spacious landscape of the psalmist's vision and say this of your own life: "God is king... The Lord is exalted... Our God is a lover of justice... The Lord God is a forgiving God. 

Even if you've already had breakfast, it's not too late today to practice seeing that which is unseen. 


PRAYER:
Lover of justice, help me to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with you today and all the days of my life. Amen.