MOVING HEAVEN AND EARTH
To move heaven and earth means to be relentless, to go to the greatest lengths, to give it everything we’ve got. It conveys incredible commitment, impressive strength, and heroic determination.
The phrase is deliberate exaggeration or hyperbole. We’re not supposed to take it literally. Right? Anyone who’s ever done any digging knows that moving even a little earth is backbreaking work, so to move the whole danged thing sounds ludicrous. And I’m not even sure what it would mean to move heaven.
The expression describes a superhuman effort to achieve the impossible.
It’s almost like that’s the whole point of it — the difficulty, the impossibility. “I’d move heaven and earth to be with you,” communicates that I would go to outrageous lengths. The aim isn’t that unusual — being together with someone we care about is a fairly ordinary desire. But the declaration to move heaven and earth suggests one who is willing to take great pains, to endure extraordinary exertion, to suffer to this end. The difficulty is the point.
Now, I’m all for commitment and effort. I don’t mind putting in some elbow grease; in fact, if I’m inspired, I relish it. I’m inclined to believe that anything worth doing is worth doing as well as possible. It’s pretty rare that I half-ass my way through anything. I know that if I phone it in, I won’t be satisfied with the result, even if it ends up being “good enough,” because I’ll always wonder how much better it might have been if I had really applied myself. I tend to give my absolute all to whatever I’m up to.
So part of me is really drawn to this idea of moving heaven and earth — heck, yeah!
And, at the same time… I am trying to be aware of when and where I’m choosing effort for effort’s sake. Aware of where and how I might be making things more challenging than they need to be just so I can experience the satisfaction of overcoming something. Aware of when I’m making the difficulty the point, even if maybe it doesn’t need to be so difficult.
And I’m wondering:
- Maybe moving heaven and earth doesn’t have to be hard.
- Maybe making it literal as well as figurative is the key.
- Maybe we’re moving earth and heaven all the time, with everything we think and say and do, and maybe it can be the most natural and effortless thing in the world.
Of course everything is daunting and difficult when we think we have to take it on all at once, and when we think we have to tough it out alone. But when we do our part, and let others do theirs, and perhaps coordinate these efforts with a bit of shared intention and mutual encouragement, we can and do move mountains.
Also, we’ve got lots of tools. Archimedes said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” Our collaborative contributions, along with all our technologies and resources — that’s a big lever. Our shared values and vision are the fulcrum. With Life Itself on our side, moving the earth might be easy as pie.
Moving heaven, perhaps, is simply a matter of changing our minds.
The reason I decided to become a minister 15 years ago was that I had begun to realize that everything I was concerned about, from personal matters to global problems, might be addressed (or at least begin to be addressed) simply by changing our minds. Choosing differently. Knowing ourselves as creative agents whose choices matter, choosing differently, and acting accordingly.
Opening our hearts and minds to what’s possible rather than perpetually banging our heads and shaking our fists against a barrage of seeming impossibilities. Recognizing ourselves as participants with the rest of the world rather than forever fighting against it. And, again, releasing ourselves from the thought that we have to solve it all at once, or once and for all. It’s a process. And we start with this, with ourselves, right now. Then take the next step, and the next, and the next. And that does change everything. That’s the only way heaven and earth are gonna move.
I can’t wait to be with you this Sunday, September 21. With the divine Patty Stephens. 10:00am at q-Staff Theatre, 400 Broadway Blvd SE, in East Downtown ABQ. XO, Drew
©2025 Drew Groves
