You Can’t – I Can!

This old song starts: ‘I wish I could fly way up to the sky but I can’t, You can… I can’t!’ Keith Harris promises that he will mend Orville the duck’s broken heart…

I was reminded of this principle yesterday by the recent ‘No Trousers Tube Ride’. I imagined conversations: ‘You can’t go to work dressed like that!’ ‘I can!’

Parents have a similar conversation with teenage children: ‘You can’t go out dressed like that!’ ‘I can!’

In school when discussing our school budget someone might say: ‘It would be good to have ____  but we can’t afford it’.

Ray, a wise older school governor, would always reply: ‘We can, but it just means that we can’t afford something else.’ He was right.

…And when someone says: ‘I can’t do that. I haven’t the time.’ Usually they can. They do have the time. They’re choosing to spend it on other priorities.

Twenty-three-year-old Lily Mills was on last night’s news…

Soon after she was born, Lily fell critically ill and was put on a life support machine. She was diagnosed with meningitis, later septicaemia, and then the rare genetic disorder galactosaemia.

She was left with cognitive impairments, learning disabilities, short-term memory loss, poor co-ordination, and a tremor.

Lily started playing tennis. She was good…. She excelled in the Special Olympics. Now she’s going to the Australian Open, where she will compete in the ‘People With Intellectual Impairment’ tournament.

Lily can’t? She can!

This morning I read Jacob’s story. He’s schemed, lied, cheated and run away from home because his brother’s going to kill him.

In a dream his God speaks to him: ‘I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you…’

Jacob says: ‘I can’t. You can’t’. His God says: ‘I can, You can.’

Orville says: ‘I can’t mend my broken heart.’ Keith Harris says: ‘I can.’

I say: ‘I can’t.’ My God says: ‘I can.’