Doing the Impossible

In his book The Active Life, Parker Palmer tells a great story of his encounter with a friend who had worked for many years with the Catholic Worker -- a ministry to the poor in New York City.

Daily she tries to respond to waves of human misery that are as ceaseless as surf in that community. Out of my deep not-knowing I asked her how she could keep doing a work that never showed any results, a work in which the problems keep getting worse instead of better. I will never forget her enigmatic answer: "The thing you don't understand, Parker, is that just because something is impossible doesn't mean you shouldn't do it!"

Okay, what about you? What impossible thing are you doing these days?