One of my heroes is Philo
T. Farnsworth. I have a framed quote of his hanging on a very visible wall in
my house. It says, “Impossible things just take a little longer.”
If you don’t recognize
his name, you should. He is credited with inventing television. He believed
that with an open mind anything was possible. Look how far television, once
labeled “impossible,” has come!
The reason Philo T.
Farnsworth is a hero of mine is that I, too, believe that more things are
possible than we can ever imagine. The realization of the impossible begins
with an open mind. When I have consciously and deliberately kept my mind open,
I have seen this dynamic unfold more times than I can count.
Negative thinking kills
the possible. Here are a couple of examples from real life.
A shoe factory once sent
two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding
the shoe business. One sent back a telegram that said, “Situation hopeless. No
one wears shoes.” The other sent back a telegram saying, “Great business
opportunity. They have no shoes.”
Thomas Watson, chairman
of IBM, responded negatively to the idea of investing in computers in 1943 by
saying, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” As late as
1977, Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment
Corporation said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in his
home.”
As a child, if I had not
decided to reject it, I would have been a victim of this kind of negative
thinking. Several significant adults in my life told me that I had no chance at
all of making it through the seminary. I was even called a “hopeless case” by
one seminary rector.
Because of these
experiences, I stay in a mild state of irritation at our church when it seems
unable to take advantage of the many opportunities staring it in the face even
now. No wonder we have a vocation crisis. No wonder we are closing parishes. We
are hopelessly mired in downward spiraling talk about both issues. Where are
the can-do people who can see an alternative to our hopeless resignation?
Jesus tells us that God needs
an open mind, a “new wineskin,” to do his work of
making all things new. Mary understood this when she said
“yes” to God. She knew that when an open mind cooperates with God, then “all
things are possible.”
I pray for this kind of
mind and heart. My prayer for this kind of mind and heart can be summed up in
the words of Soren Kierkegaard when he said, “If I were to wish for anything I
should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can
be, for the eye, which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible.”
Faith can move mountains.
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