Believing the Incredible

I love the movie, “A Beautiful Mind.”

      We see a man challenged mentally and emotionally beyond anything most of us will ever contend. I can relate to the movie, better than most, since my daughter is mentally ill. Only the family and friends of the mentally ill can full understand and empathize with their acute dilemma.

      In what is perhaps my favorite scene, we see John Nash’s wife gazing intently into his eyes, and saying, with all the ardor she can muster, “I need to believe that something incredible can happen.”

      John Nash was and is an incredible man. I’m a collector of autographs, and of course, I couldn’t wait to procure his. Laying on the desk before me is my most recent autograph. You guessed it – John Nash.

      I must watch “his” movie every 3-4 weeks; (maybe I’m a little neurotic myself.) But in one scene we hear John characterizing his hard won progress; “Like a diet of the mind, I choose to avoid certain appetites,” and “I’ve gotten so used to ignoring my demons, that I think they’ve given up on me.”

     And all of this coming from the mouth of a man who saw (and still sees) the hallucinatory figures that haunted, and still haunt his every waking moment, (and who can say? Perhaps his dreams, as well.)

     There is a wonderful verse that reads: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7, KJV) If such wonderful change is possible in the life of a man challenged by psychosis, how much potential do you, and I have for life and living? The rhetorical answer has to be – “A lot.”

    Granted, our “demons” can afflict us, and diminish our potential. Our afterthoughts can become our priorities. Our “fun and games” can drain away the magic of genius, and the greatness of maturity. Oh to mature, to gain wisdom, to prioritize the choices we make on a daily basis.

    There are literally hundreds of verses that mention God (or Christ, or Lord) and Man (or he, or they, or Paul) in the same verse. I call this God/Man connection – “Cooperating with God.” I’m convinced that few of us ever achieve, or live up to our potential.

      I’m convinced that we should, no must, wake up every morning and ask God to enlarge our territory, to open our eyes to our potential, to work out his vision within us, to multiply the impact of our few short years.

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Musings"