I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
- Jesus of Nazareth
I can see clearly now; the rain is gone.
- Johnny Nash
This story may not make sense to you; it may in fact invite ridicule. I know. But the events related here are 100% true...
Facts are not as powerful as faith. I know people who believe sheer out non-factual absurdities, but believe them strongly to their toes because they are sure they are right. Such confident faith, right or wrong, has power -- amazing, miraculous, out-of-the-ordinary-possibilities type of power.
As a child, I had a serious eyesight problem in my left eye. I was in the 1st grade when I realized almost everything was dim and blurry. I got my first pair of early 70's horn-rims in 1972 -- with bifocals, no less. The vision in my left eye was 20/400.
By the time I was a freshman in High School, I was utterly sick of glasses. I was overweight and my "stylish" metal frames made me look bookish. Through shear force of will, I lost 50 pounds, did a trendy middle part-of-my-hair, and then…
I stopped wearing glasses. I simply put them down. I didn't like them. And I was sure that I didn't need them. The Optometrist in 1978 disagreed -- he prescribed a new pair, yes, still with bifocals. Poppycock, I thought. I don't want them and I'm not going to wear them. I'll force myself to see better.
On my driver's test in 1979 when I turned 16, I passed the eye test with nary a batted eyebrow. When my eyes were tested again in 1981 for college, I tested at 20/25 in both eyes. My mother had given up by then on asking me to wear my glasses, and suddenly I had proof definitive in my hands I didn't need them anymore. How could this be, my mother asked. "My eyes are fine because I forced them to be fine," I replied. When pressed for a better explanation -- one that made sense -- I had none. I should have thought of Matthew 17:20.
That was a long time ago. A year ago, I realized my close-in vision had become dismal. I struggled to read the paper. I tried reading glasses (1.50) and was amazed at the clarity and improvement. Soon, there were 6 pairs of reading glasses in my house -- one everywhere I possibly sit and read -- and a pair in my car, along with a pair at work. Yes, that's 8 total, but "that's just the way I roll."
I was catching up with my old friend Jerry Sheridan in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, and the subject of reading glasses came up. Jerry mentioned that he didn't wear them because, he knew once he started, he would be hooked for life.
Somewhere in the back of my head, there was a distant "ding." And I put my reading glasses down. In the middle of our Philadelphia trip.
I reviewed a contract today that I couldn't get into focus a couple of months ago. I now read the paper, including the small print comics, with nary a problem by 60 watt lamp light. I haven't had a pair of reading glasses on since August 9. You have to understand, my eyes are fine.
Because I very strongly believe my eyes are fine, so much as to will it so. Oh, it wasn't magic. I told my eyes they were going to function, I picked up the paper, and I forced the ink into focus. Force became ease within a couple of days. And such is the power of "I Can" -- it scales mountains, by the power of sheer force.
Move that mountain. You can do it.
