I remember a Far Side cartoon that depicted the inhabitants of hell, surrounded by freezing snow and ice. One of the poor souls said to the other, “The Cubs must have won the World Series.” (When hell freezes over.) In a Wayne”s World skit, the phrase “When monkeys fly out of my butt” was popularized. Coincidentally (although nothing happens by sheer coincidence), one of my favorite birthday presents I received within this last week, was from my daughter Rachel. It came in a big box and as I opened it up and looked inside, what did I behold. . .a beautiful ceramic pig with wings. It was the spitting image of Rachel’s father which had a remarkable family resemblance to herself. Yep, you got it. . .”When pigs fly.”
Each of the above phrases are called an adynaton, which is the creative use of events in which the exaggeration is so great that it refers to an absolute impossibility. Rachel personally knows the significance of the flying pig. She’s been flying for four years and was given a coin to celebrate it. She knew I would love it. We and all of the other sheep are pigs of a feather, flocking together. One of the earliest influences on my soul is a verse in the Bible from the Psalms apparently written just for little helpless swine-types like myself.
“I had no one to help me. I was without strength and without hope. He turned to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out from the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. And He set my feet upon a Rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
My dear Lily is no exception. She used to be a skeptic. If she couldn’t wrap her mind and her human faith around the possibilities, there was no hope. . .it was impossible. That was until she saw, with her own eyes, her first flying pig. It relates to one of her favorite stories that she likes to share whenever she can. We never get tired of hearing it. 
“A certain King had two sons and the younger of the two said to his Father, ‘Give me the portion of my inheritance because I want to set out on my own.’ A few days later the son gathered all of his belongings and set out for the city and in a short time, he spent every dime he had and wasted his substance with riotous, pleasure seeking living. . .and he had nothing left. So he found a job on a farm, feeding the swine in the fields and hanging out with them. He was so hungry he found himself eating the corn husks the pigs were eating. But he had no appetite left for them. He craved the Corn that he would eat at His Father’s table. He could see no way out but to wallow in the mud and mire with the swine. But from within him came the Words, ‘I will arise and go to my Father and will say to Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You.’ When the morning came, a Heavenly Wind carried him home to his Father’s Love, full of Mercy and Forgiveness. . .and his Inheritance was fully restored.”
I can’t tell you how many times my lot in life, the reality of the existing circumstances, have left me without hope. I’ll be the kind of person I am supposed to be when pigs fly. I will love with the love that is patient and kind, is never envious or rude, is never self-seeking, is not easily angered, that keeps no record of wrongs. It always hopes. It always perseveres. It never runs out or comes to an end. Impossible. I will when pigs fly. But what is impossible for man, is possible with God. For He Is, and Does what I am not and could never do. I can do all things through Him Who Lives and Loves in me, and for me.
When the sheep are together, they talk about their moments in the mud and mire of life. One pigsty story after another. Moments of fear and anxiety, moments of anger and frustration, moments of self-absorbed misery and despair. Moments of the utter absence of initiative and self-control. Failures and self-condemnation. Moments of madness. But, there are other Moments. . . Good Moments that arrive just in the nick of time. The God Who Knows all things, Who is the Author and Perfector of all events in life, Speaks to the troubled hearts of all the sheep and Says, “In quietness and rest is your Strength.” And the little piggies of the flock Fly to Him with wings like the eagles.
He gives power to the faint and to them who have no might, He gives them His strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary in the mud and mire, and each will utterly fall. . .and fail. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up wings like eagles’; they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31
The Dinner table is always set with the finest of Heavenly delicacies for the flock. Never husks for His children. Only the Divine Corn of the Spirit. . .filled with the rarest of Fruits. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith, Self-control, Wisdom, Power and a Sound Mind.
Freely given. Freely Received. Free to all the oinkers who want to fly.
A Good Moment 