Petition for the Day: Expect the Impossible
ear Miracles: May you expect the impossible. A few years ago I have the privilege of attending a couple of workshops taught by witch, Priestess, activist and author Thorn Coyle. One of the skills that Thorn both talked about and demonstrated was something she called High Priestess Mind. High Priestess Mind, as I understand it, is the ability to sit in a place of tension between two apparently opposing forces — this world and the world beyond, life and death, confidence and doubt. It is an awareness of the underlying unity between apparent opposites — a state of grace accomplished through both intuition and discernment. You can read more about it in her book.
Kierkegaard, the Danish theologian and philosopher, writes about a similar state in one of my favorite books Fear and Trembling. This state, according to him, is what Abraham experienced when he was directed by Yahweh to sacrifice Isaac. Kierkegaard calls this state the expectation of the impossible. The conflict that created fertile ground for expecting the impossible was Abraham’s faith based knowledge that Yaweh’s demand for Isaac’s life had already been fulfilled before a blade was ever held to throat — the terrible event in effect had already occurred. Abraham’s cheerful expectation was that despite this conflict the impossible would certainly happen and his beloved son would be spared. Of course we know in the story that Abraham’s impossible expectation was satisfied.
Often when I am working with a particularly difficult case — one that has a chance for success but that is stuck in a thorny wood of Obstacle, my client will ask me what they can do on their end. There are prayers and spiritual preparations that can be helpful to almost case but often I simply tell them — it is time to expect the impossible. For both the High Priestess and Kierkegaard there is an expectation of the impossible. It is not simply cock-eyed optimism but rather insightful and incisive vision paired with soul wisdom — a bone deep understanding that though at times something truly seems impossible-the power of the Divine is unfettered, limitless, and beyond our scope.
So…
When it seems that you cannot go on, expect the impossible.
When all signs point a different way and it crushes your heart, expect the impossible.
When you fear that the law, the attitude, the norm will never change, expect the impossible.
When you fear, period-expect the impossible.
When you doubt, expect the impossible.
You and life are much bigger & miraculous than you might think.