Human beings tend to like certainty. We like things to be predictable. But predictable may exclude possibilities.
In writing a booklet on mental skills for young footballers (I started out life as a PE teacher) I wrote: “Football is a game of possibilities. Few things are fixed. Few things are inevitable. Unless you think they are! A game isn’t lost or won until the final whistle. Unless you think it is.”
OK so life isn’t a football match, but all aspects of life hold possibilities. And those possibilities do depend on our attitude, our beliefs and our relationships. It is about being open and open hearted. In religious terms, it is being open to the presence of God in situations and, above all, in people where we might not expect it.
It may mean crossing the street literally and figuratively.
I have set myself the pleasure of greeting the people I pass on my five minute walk to church. On Sunday I crossed the road to greet a lone person walking on the other side. No-one else was about. I said, “Good morning,” and he stopped and smiled. “ Good morning, “ he replied. He continued, “I looked up and thought, this man is crossing the road to speak to me. How nice. God bless you, sir.” “You too,” I said.
I am because you are.
Chris Dawson