The Magic of Believing

“Just because you can’t see the air doesn’t keep you from breathing and just because you can’t see God shouldn’t keep you from believing.” (Jeremiah Bigg, The Preacher's Wife"

From time to time, I re-read books that I either like very much and/or that brought meaning to my life. I believe that, for me, books come to me when I need the message they have to offer. “The Magic of Believing” is just such a book--it presented itself to me at just the right moment. The opening sentence reads as follows:

“Is there a something, a force, a factor, a power, a science--call it what you will--which a few people understand and use to overcome their difficulties and achieve outstanding success?”

I believe there is, but I also believe that it is very difficult to maintain unless you have a strong will and people around you who are supportive and encouraging.

We have a great number of things that we choose to believe in--God, the Bible, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and fairy tales. We believe in love, at least most of the time. We believe in money and what we can buy and enjoy. We believe in the possibility of happiness. Then there are those things we believe without much conscious thought: We believe the car is going to start when we turn the key; we believe we will get from point A to point B safely; we believe the airplane is going to stay in the air when we board; and, sometimes we believe in the impossible.

A movie titled “Bustin Loose” starring Cicely Tyson and Richard Pryor is a great illustration of this fact. Vivian Perry (Tyson) is a social worker/teacher who grows weary of seeing children being unloved and uncared for decide to do something about it. Ex-con Joe Paxton (Pryor) is caught holding up a department store and is given probation if he will drive Ms. Perry and some children across the country to a farm w/house that has been left to Ms. Perry by her parents. She fully intends to establish a home and a school for these physically and emotionally handicapped children. Their mode of transportation is a very old school bus with a long list of mechanical problems. They make it in spite of the fact that every few miles the bus breaks down and Paxton repaired it with whatever he could find.

After they arrive at the farm Ms. Perry finds out she needs $15,000 to pay back taxes in order to take full possession but she does not have the money and the bank will not loan it to her. In a very pivotal scene, Vivian cries out “we’re going to lose the farm. I am going to lose everything I dreamed about.” When Paxton answers, you know that this trip changed him and that he feels a connection to the people, to the children, on that bus. “I’m not a loser he screams at her and they (children) are not losers either. I drove that bus all the way from Philly on a prayer and baling wire--first good thing I ever did in my life”. He looks at her and pleads no demands, “don’t call me a loser.”

When Joe Paxton fully realized Ms. Perry’s dream and looked into the faces of those children, I have no doubt, he saw both his potential and his purpose. The great physician, Paracelsus, said: “The human spirit is so great a thing that no man can express it; could we rightly comprehend the mind of man nothing would be impossible to us upon the earth…..”. Hard work is great and a must in achieving our goals but something more is needed and that something is belief--”as a man/woman/child thinketh”.

Vivian and the children believed they were going to a new and wonderful place--a place of safety for the children--a place to learn and play--a place to grow strong and be happy. Joe wanted to be part of that and feel what they were feeling so he believed harder than anyone did.

Of course, they saved the farm, the children got a place they could call home and Joe Paxton got the girl (Vivian Perry). Impossible? You may think so, but to the little motley crew who traveled so far to chase a dream and fulfill a goal they might be quick to tell you that is exactly what they did--realized the impossible--to them an impossible dream.

Do you have something you want? Are you willing to allow your mind and heart to believe so strongly that in combination with your actions you begin to see results? Don't knock it unless you are willing to try it. There really is magic in believing.

Love to all,

Nonna