Why you have to Believe it BEFORE you see it
I was talking with my sister a couple of years ago, after she had begun an exercise program and healthy-eating plan. I told her to stop looking at the scale (Better yet, throw it in the Ocean), because it didn’t accurately tell her the true story.
In fact, it kept telling her that she hadn’t lost a thing, and some days (God forbid!) it told her she’d gained a pound or two.
(The truth is that eating the right foods in the right amounts, along with cardiovascular exercise and strength training may in fact maintain or increase scale weight when in fact improvement has been made in heart health and loss of body fat.)
Have you ever had this experience?
If you have, you’d agree that it is a far cry from being inspirational (Who wants a little inanimate object to dictate whether this is a good day or a bad day, anyway?).
Around the same time as this conversation I was having with my sister, I had planted some flower bulbs in a pot on the deck of my home. I used quality soil, and I made sure it had full sun and adequate water.
The funny thing is that the next day when I went out to look at the pot, there still wasn’t any flowers. Same story the day after that. AND the day after that.
Truth be told, it was a couple of weeks before I noticed the first green sprout.
Wouldn’t you think it a little ridiculous if I gave up after a couple of days, convinced that nothing was happening and pissed that there were no flowers yet?
We don’t have difficulty understanding that growth is actually occurring even though the present reality would have us think otherwise, as far as planting a seed or a bulb is concerned.
Why do we have such a hard time when we are working toward losing weight or buying a house or getting a new job or coming up with the money to pay a bill or finding the love of your life or achieving any other measure of success and joy and happiness?
Know that over 90% of everything in the world is created long before you or I see any physical evidence of it.
It makes me think of a verse from the days when I was a student of the Bible, Hebrews 11:1.
Maybe you know it?
- “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (New International Version)
- “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Revised Standard Version)
- “Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.” (New World Translation)
I’d say this turns on its head the saying “Seeing is Believing,” unless we interpret it to mean Seeing with the Mind’s Eye.
You and I have got to believe it before we see it.
