“Why Not?” — The Two Words That Can Change Everything

    “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” — Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)

As a boy I visited my Grandpa Archie's home in the south.  We were sitting on the porch enjoying some vanilla ice cream one summer day and he pointed out the old oak tree in the front yard. "That tree wasn't always there, you know," he said.  I looked over at him with his tanned and wrinkled face, squinting at it like it held a secret. "Someone had to plant it. Had to believe it would grow."

Now, I don’t know much about trees and acorns and such.  But that line stuck with me: Had to believe it would grow.

That same spirit is captured in something Robert F. Kennedy once said — or borrowed, really, from George Bernard Shaw — but RFK made it famous:

    “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and ask why not.”

Those two words — why not — carry something important:  hope, risk, vision all bundled together like a small seed waiting to break the ground's surface.

The Safe Question vs. the Brave One

Asking “why” has its place. A child asks why the sky is blue. A man asks why the system failed. A woman asks why her efforts go unappreciated.  Those are good and honest questions.

But “why not?” — now that’s a question that's of a different breed - it dares.

“Why not forgive that person?”
“Why not start something new?”
“Why not trust God again?”

“Why” looks back for explanations.
“Why not” looks forward for possibilities.

The Grocery Store Moment

I once observed a moment showing that in line at the grocery store.  There was this teenage kid ahead of me — probably working his first job — and he noticed an elderly lady struggling to count out her change. The rest of us in line were sort of shuffling and looking around, breathing a little harder.  
But this kid? He said to her, "Let me cover that for you ma'am."  And he pulled out his own wallet and paid the bill.

It was maybe a few dollars. But the look on that woman’s face said, her lip started quivering.  To her it was worth alot more.  All because a young man dared to ask, why not do something kind?

A Voice From Long Ago

You know, Jesus once fed thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Now I imagine when he asked his disciples to bring him the 5 loaves and the two fish there might have been a skeptic thinking, "What's he going to do with that for 5,000 people."  "Why even try?"

But Jesus seemingly asked a different question: Why not bring it to Me?

He blessed it, broke it, and multiplied it and fed the 5,000. He always does more than we expect when we stop asking “why can’t it be done?” and start asking “why not trust Him to do something miraculous?”

The World Could Use a Few More Dreamers

There’s no shortage of people asking why things are broken, and complainig about the state of affairs. But the world changes when someone looks at what isn't yet — and believes it could be.  For us Christians that's called a hopeful eschatology.

A foster mom says, “Why not love a child who isn’t mine?”
A pastor says, “Why not preach to a crowd that might not listen?”
A neighbor says, “Why not knock on their door and offer a helping hand?”

That’s how communities heal. That’s how stories get rewritten.

It Starts With You

So here’s my challenge, friend:
Next time you see a broken thing — a strained friendship, a rough day, a scary dream — don’t stop at why.

Ask why not.

You just might plant an oak tree that someone will sit under one day.

And if you’re wondering whether God is too busy or too distant to use you? Just remember, He often chooses ordinary folks who are crazy enough to believe extraordinary things can happen.

Why not be one of them?

    “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” — Matthew 19:26 (ESV)