When Pigs Fly

I have a thing for flying pigs.

You heard me: Pigs with wings, soaring through the air, squealing in delight.

I think it’s because when you hear the phrase, “When Pigs Fly” the implication is:

 “that’s never gonna happen.”

Sounds like a dare to me.
And the people in my family love a good dare.

Once upon a time, when my Father and Aunt were kids…back when the world was sepia colored and the idea of a smart phone was only found in comic books…the two of them were having an argument. Now, I don’t know what the argument was about, but it made my Dad so angry that he threatened to push my Aunt into a nearby rosebush. She looked him square in the eye and said, “You wouldn’t DARE!” Shortly thereafter my Dad found himself getting a good spanking while my Aunt was ridding herself of thorns.

I guess tenacity is hereditary. While I’ve never thrown anyone into a rose bush, I have found myself proving others wrong, not to spite them, but because I know they are confined by some imaginary box that has no hold on me.

When I was 10 years old, all I wanted in the world was a horse. It was all I could talk about. I begged my parents to buy me a horse, but they refused. However, I kept hoping and dreaming. During this time period, I met a girl who disapproved of my desire for a horse. (Seriously, what was her problem?) I will never forget what she said to me when I told her that I wanted a horse: “Yeah, right! Like that’s ever going to happen.” It was a like a dagger in my heart. Yet, it was also like a flame lit under me and from that moment on I didn’t just dream about getting a horse; I worked for it. I did as much research as a girl without the internet could muster. I took horseback lessons. I read books. I sent away for information on getting a free horse. A few years later, I had not one, but two horses that I had received for free. Actually, in retrospect, the first horse that was offered to me, I decided not to take. So, there, Debbie Downer! I see your “Never Getting a Horse” and raise you THREE FREE ONES!

How differently that situation could have turned out if I had agreed with Naysayer Girl. What if I had said, “Yeah, you’re probably right” and devoted the rest of my middle school years to pouring over issues of Teen Beat and listening to boy bands? I shudder at the thought.

Twice today I found myself saying that old adage: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” But truly, it’s more than necessity that gives birth to new creation.
It’s desire.
And passion.
And faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen. (Heb 11:1)

Faith is creation.

Creation is making and doing and achieving.

It's seeing the possible inside impossible.

It's believing.
And it’s there.

That little piggy.

Waiting for you to fashion it some wings and set it free.

The next time you hear the phrase, “When Pigs Fly,” (or any relative of that phrase,) I hope you consider it a dare. And I hope it inspires you to push a little harder, think outside the box and make your dreams come true.

I dare you.

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