I Want to Start a Movement: Think Big

I have a big yard, and recently, my husband suggested moving when gardening and keeping up with the lawn begins to feel overwhelming. I think he is correct, but it’s not time yet. I am still experimenting with what I can grow, where I can grow them, what plants I need to move, and where I might impact them. I have also decided to try some huge plants that will grow three feet wide. I want to grow some unusual plants with unique colors; I want blooms from the first days of spring through the final frost. I am still thinking big.

When thinking about my gardening goals, I connected to a recent sermon I heard that referenced Alice in Wonderland. Consider this lament by Alice and the Queen’s response:

Alice laughed. “There is no use trying,” she said. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “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.”

Children are good at thinking big and growing unique ideas, but we adults need to remember that excellent skill. We need to be more like kids at times like this. We need to develop some perfect ideas in the solid ground of why and move on to what and how.

We have lived to see impossible good things come true, and we have heard the voices of the people who helped make them accurate. Make a list of all the good things you’ve seen come true. The longer you have been around, the longer your list will be.

• Gladys Burrill ran a marathon at age 92!
• Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.
• Diane Nyad swam from Florida to Cuba at age 64
• Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa
• Phones in our pockets that we carry everywhere
• Talya Ozdemir addressed the United Nations at age 10
• Books from the library delivered to your phone
• Your car alerts you that you are running out of gas
• You have a GPS to give you directions
• The first transatlantic fight was only in 1927!
• A human being walked on the moon
• You get close to a door, and it automatically opens
• Creation of antibiotics for infections in 1929
• You can say “lights off” to the ceiling, and it happens!

What seemed impossible to you, and yet it still happened?

None of this is magic, and it is the creative power we have been given to lift human talent and engage thought and spirit. It results from imagining — believing we can and making it so.

What other impossible things can we believe?

• Every child will get a great start in life
• Every person who wants to work with have a fulfilling job
• Everyone will make a living wage
• The waiting list will end

If we believe, we can imagine. If we imagine, more and more good things will happen every day.

What other impossible things can you imagine today? Make your list and start believing.