After Bible study last night, I was mindlessly flipping through television channels and landed on Roman Holiday, starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. I spent a few minutes watching the film, looking at 1950s images of a Rome I visited 40 years later. Despite the beautiful location, much of the dialogue is pretty forgettable. I was particularly struck by the final farewell: “I don’t know how to say goodbye – I can’t think of any words.” “Goodbye” pretty much takes care of it, don’t you think?
That aside, I wanted to know a little more about the movie, so I turned to the fount of all wisdom, Google, and stumbled across what Google claims to be Hepburn’s “most famous quote.” Here it is: “Nothing is impossible—the word itself says ‘I’m possible.’”
It’s a charming line, although I’m not convinced it will stand up to scrutiny as true. But it’s clever and hopeful – the kind of quote that makes you smile before you even stop to think about it.
And in a world that often feels limited (and limiting), it’s easy to see why it resonates. We want to believe that barriers can be broken, that new possibilities can emerge, that our lives can change.
In that sense, the quote gets close to the truth. Some barriers can be broken. We can change some things about our lives. The new possibilities that present themselves may be small, but they’re out there if we look hard enough.
But the Gospel offers a slightly different truth.
Because on our own, we discover fairly quickly that some things are impossible. We can’t control everything. We can’t fix everything. We can’t will ourselves into becoming entirely new people by sheer determination.
Which is where Scripture speaks a deeper word.
Jesus says, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26).
Notice the difference. Hepburn’s quote encourages us to look within and rely on ourselves. Jesus invites us to look outside ourselves and rely on God.
While I find Hepburn’s quote discouraging, I find Jesus’ truth freeing.
It means that when we reach the end of our own ability, we haven’t come to the end of what is possible.
And that’s good news. Because some of the most important things in life—the healing of a wounded heart, the mending of a broken relationship, the slow work of becoming more like Christ—often feel impossible from where we stand. But when we include God in the mix, everything changes.
Not everything is possible for me. But nothing is impossible for God. And when God and I are aligned, then God’s strength is in me, and nothing is impossible.
Prayer: God of all possibilities, when I feel limited or discouraged,
remind me that your power is greater than my weakness. Help me trust in your ability to do what I cannot. Through your strength, make me stronger; through your faithfulness, make me more faithful; through your love, make me more loving. Amen.
